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International Hydrolytics Ltd.
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AHC Products
AHC products,
classified according to various schemes, depict specific trade-offs between
manufacturing cost and start-up lead time, labor rate and skill level, tooling
complexity and tooling costs, and, ultimately, unit cost as a function of
production volume. Examples of appropriate classification factors include: manufacturing
methods - multiple component structural composites, compression-formed
wetted powders, trowel-on pastes, castable slurries, and spray-on appliqués; commodity
codes - bricks, tiles, interior or exterior wall siding, roofing, pipe
cladding, duct liners, fire doors, shake shingles, crucibles, acoustic ceiling
tiles, muffler liners, fire safes, magnetic storage containers, and non-skid
coatings; and value added - public health, fire safety, and
environmental awareness. However, for simplicity, AHC products are conveniently
divided into seven arbitrary applications-oriented, functional categories:
Construction
Materials
Numerous
AHC materials have passed the stringent fire test provisions of British
Standard 476 (1972), "Fire Tests on Building Materials and Structures,
Part 8: Test Methods and Criteria for the Fire Resistance of Elements of
Building Construction". Similarly, numerous combinations of two or more
generic composites, in final AHC product configurations, have successfully
passed ASTM E-84, E-119, and E-152 test standards. Notable examples include:
fire door cores employing lightweight silica spheres and/or perlite slurries
pour cast into Kraft paper honeycomb cells; and structural, fireproof, honeycomb
panels fabricated by dip-coating Kraft paper honeycomb in Hydrolytic cements.
Waste
Conversion
The
near-universal bonding characteristics of Hydrolytic cements hold great promise
for converting waste and manufacturing by-product materials into useful composite
products. Waste materials currently identified as compatible for this purpose
include: shredded paper; recycled paper sludge; coal-fired power plant flyash;
pressed sugar cane residues (bagasse); sawdust and wood chips; dried palm
fronds and banana tree leaves; rice husks and/or straw; and manure. Although
many of these raw materials are flammable, when incorporated into AHC
materials, they become fire retarded or fireproof in proportion to the relative
amounts of Hydrolytic cement employed. Most important, as the basis for many
useful and desirable products, these AHC materials can solve the associated,
constantly growing, problems of waste disposal and environmental pollution, and
the advantage of converting wastes and associated disposal costs into useful
products and significant profits is obvious.
Generic
Core Materials
AHC
core materials not fitting into the previous two categories are grouped into
this category. Typical examples include: unoptimized, compression-formed,
wetted powders and fibers; and pastes or slurries of many inorganic aggregates,
e.g., fiberglass, high-temperature refractory fibers, volcanic rocks,
vermiculite, metal oxides, silica microspheres, diatomaceous earth, and sea
shells. In general, many if not all of these materials show promise as stable,
fireproof, inert, and ultraviolet-resistant building materials or coatings.
Laminated
Composites
Combinations
of two or more AHC materials, in definite final product configurations, fall
into the category of laminated composites. Typical examples include: wall panel
cores pour cast from lightweight expanded polystyrene bead slurries and
laminated refractory fiber mats; structural honeycomb panels made entirely from
incombustible AHC materials suitable for unitary composite floors, walls,
ceilings and shipping containers; and composite foam insulation panels attached
to AHC fire barriers.
High
Temperature Coatings
With
special emphasis on high temperature stability, resistance to ionizing
radiation, and transparency to microwave radiation, a classification of AHC
materials can be defined for land-based or orbital space applications to
aerospace, communications, national defense, etc. As an example of the numerous
potential applications of AHC materials, spray-coat thermal ablation shields
for the space shuttle would make an excellent substitute for the expensive,
individually machined, ceramic tiles currently in use. Other examples include:
AHC materials doped with carbon black to produce high-temperature microwave
absorbers and structures; and replacements for epoxy cement materials which are
unstable in high temperature or ionizing radiation environments (AHC materials
withstand long-term exposure to high temperature, and all forms of radiation,
without deterioration).
Porous
Pseudo-Ceramics
Recent
collaborative results from the University of Oklahoma Medical School establish
AHC materials as cost-effective substitutes for expensive porous ceramic
membranes commonly used in large quantities by the medical community. These
fortuitous results derive from previous observations that small amounts of
silicone glycol and/or silane additives, in combination with standard foaming
agents, produce rigid AHC foams with appropriate in-situ functional groups for
immunoassay screening, as well as controlled porosity and permeability. Typical
examples of more than 300 medical/biomedical applications of these porous
pseudo-ceramic materials include: specimen collectors - blood, urine, sputum,
vaginal, and rectal; filters - syringe, capsule, in-line, and aerosol;
diagnostic membranes - electrophoresis, chromatography, and dialysis; and rigid
immuno-diagnostic supports - qualitative analysis of biological analytes and
qualitative screening of drug metabolites. Most important, however, AHC technology
affords Medicare, Medicaid, and other health care providers a phenomenal ninety
percent (90%) cost savings over conventional porous ceramic materials.
Research
A final category can be defined as AHC materials that
may or may not have perceived applications, but are prepared simply as an
intermediate step toward understanding selected features of AHC technology.
Examples of such AHC materials might include high ferrite content, as a
possible magnetic circuit material or the addition of calcium aluminate to
increase the hydrolytic cement melting point. At present, research composites
are few in number, since major attention has been focused on the known
application areas covered in the previous categories. However, the end points
of AHC product development can be as varied as the spectrum of silicate
materials itself, and the potential for tailoring manufactured materials with
characteristics that emulate natural materials, while maintaining design
control, is an enticing incentive for pure research.
AHC Product
Identification
When plastics
technology first entered into the product development phase, it was manifestly
impossible to assess the long-term impact of such a technological
transformation on modern society, and, in view of the amazing variety of useful
and desirable products that can be produced using AHC technology, IHL is now
confronted with the same wonderful challenge. As an example of the extent to
which AHC technology will transform modern materials science, IHL has
identified a partial listing of more than 350 consumer-oriented AHC products
which confirms the unique ability of AHC technology to provide flexible,
commercially viable, solutions to the multiplicity of environmental, energy
conservation, fire safety, and public health problems that confront modern
industry. Accordingly IHL has standardized procedures for solving these
problems.
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