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International Hydrolytics Ltd.
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AHC
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PLAN
International
Hydrolytics Limited (IHL) has recently performed a detailed evaluation of
customer and client response that strongly suggests an expansion of certain
aspects of advanced hydrolytic composite (AHC) product development to maximize
the prospects of early entry into appropriate marketplaces. Therefore, based on a 16-year history of
successful AHC materials development, accelerated schedules, which take maximum
advantage of precedent research and development, can effectively bypass the
first four stages of new product
development. The significance of
this “bypass” capability is that, within any given industry, typical new
product development programs can last from 16-20 years, and the amounts by
which these time periods can be reduced are direct measures of AHC product’s
competitive edge, or windows of opportunity.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES
An axiom of IHL’s
business philosophy is that the company will aggressively support licensees in
virtually any product development role needed to ensure successful entry of AHC
products into the market place.
However, since the shortest route to positive cash flow and maximum
profits is not necessarily limited to the development of licensees, certain
high priority AHC products may be more appropriate for in-house development in
support of national or international joint ventures. In general, this observation is valid when one or more of the
following conditions exist: projected gross profit margins are so large that it
would be imprudent to license AHC products for modest royalties; the current
state of development for specialized AHC products qualifies them as being
nearly market ready, with IHL having already borne the bulk of development
expenses; or large international companies with excess production facilities
can provide access to extensive worldwide marketing, sales, and distribution
networks. Accordingly, IHL has
established a list of AHC products, rank-ordered according to final development
lead times that meet these conditions.
AHC PRODUCTS
IHL’s fundamental
product, whether licensed under restrictions, conveyed to joint ventures, etc.,
is “engineered materials” as they relate to literally hundreds of commercial
applications of AHC technology in more than 30 different industries. For
example, in any given instance, AHC performance advantages will typically
include: fireproofing; waterproofing; vermin proofing; thermal and electrical
insulation; acoustic attenuation; non-corrosivity; non-toxicity; humidity
resistance; mildew resistance; strength and structural integrity; lightness;
controlled shrinkage; controlled porosity and permeability; cation exchange
capacities (including all heavy metals); toxic or noxious gas adsorption; and
chemical inertness. In addition, once a relatively simple “cookbook” recipe for
AHC materials has been identified, the engineering required to translate
laboratory fabrication procedures to a production line scenario is
straightforward. In this regard, a
significant cost savings advantage of AHC technology is the absence of
requirements for high purity chemicals and precise temperature/pressure
control, as they relate to the following manufacturing processes: compression
molding of wetted powders/fibers; injection molding and/or extrusion of pastes;
and pour-cast or spray-on of liquid slurries. Finally, IHL’s highly experienced
engineers and material sciences staff can effectively eliminate time-consuming
and expensive learning curves associated with mass production of revolutionary
lines of inexpensive, environmentally friendly, materials from natural and
by-product waste streams. From these observations, it is apparent that the
potential for industrialization of AHC products is virtually unlimited, and,
once a specific AHC application has been identified, the final steps to
full-scale production are reduced to minor engineering details.
By-Product Sludge Composites
IHL has identified a variety of wet, untreated,
by-product sludges, including inseparable fibers, clays, metal oxides, etc., as
promising raw material candidates for AHC materials. In general, these sludge
forms, which are ordinarily dehydrated and disposed of in EPA-approved waste
sites, at significant cost to manufacturers, are compatible with hydrolytic
cements, and laboratory tests confirm that castable AHC materials can be
produced under ambient conditions. Most important, unoptimized prototypes are
characteristically lightweight and fireproof, display good thermal insulating
properties, accept inorganic coloring pigments to produce an attractive
appearance, and offer moderate to good strength characteristics. Therefore, IHL is confident that these AHC
processes will be adaptable to numerous commercial products and applications,
which require no certification tests.
Structural Panels
Geo-Comb is IHL’s trade name for laminated Kraft
paper honeycomb panels whose cells are filled with various combinations of
hydrolytic cement and a wide variety of industrial and agricultural wastes, e.g.,
flyash, recycled rubber tires, indigenous fibers, etc. In effect, the resulting structural
honeycomb products consist of incombustible, non-toxic, and insoluble AHC
materials that can be produced with strength-to-weight ratios approaching those
of the organic resin systems. In
addition, exterior faces may incorporate many AHC materials to produce finished
structural panels having high thermal insulation, structural integrity, and
absolute fire safety. These Geo-Comb
panels comprise a family of integrated floor, wall, and ceiling structures that
can revolutionize the manufactured housing, modular housing, mobile home,
recreational vehicle, and air or ground transportation industries through the
achievement of fire ratings that far surpass industry standards. Furthermore,
these panels require no additional reinforcement or support, and they can be
manufactured in final-use form, i.e., standard thicknesses, with provisions for
window frames, door fixtures, plumbing, and electrical conduits.
Hazardous Waste Management
Throughout the world, industry is beginning to
understand that composite materials, engineered for specific applications and
operating environments, are cost effective, non-polluting, energy efficient,
and geologically safe replacements for traditional materials that are either in
short supply or lack one or more of these desirable characteristics. Further, since nearly any naturally
occurring or man-made waste may be incorporated as the dispersed phase of AHC
materials, AHC technology offers numerous alternatives to, or synergisms with,
conventional methods, facilities, and procedures for nuclear, hazardous, and
mixed waste stabilization, recovery, packaging, and transportation programs.
Therefore, it is obvious that AHC technology, as a key element of eventual
lasting solutions to waste disposal and environmental pollution problems,
promises many useful applications. Typical examples include: cleaning up soils
saturated with petrochemicals; solidification of high-level and low-level nuclear
wastes for permanent disposal; plume containment to prevent ground water
contamination from landfills, leaking underground storage tanks or piping
systems, etc.; inexpensive, light weight, and high efficiency radiation shields
and containers; and immobilization (encapsulation) of toxic residues from
sewage plants, municipal incinerators, hospitals, chemical plants, and
pharmaceutical houses, prior to land disposal.
Microwave Absorbers
Biological hazards from high-energy microwave sources
are well known to anyone familiar with microwave ovens, and, although
carbon-coated reticulated foams are excellent microwave absorbers, absorbed
energies can produce temperatures exceeding autoignition points. However, many
combinations of specially doped hydrolytic cements and hollow silica
microspheres are not only fireproof but also provide equivalent electromagnetic
performance of reticulated foams, e.g., -23 dB from 2GHz to 23GHz. In this
form, AHC materials offer exceptional qualities as safe and effective high
temperature microwave absorbers.
Fire Retarded Insulation and
Paint
AHC materials can be sprayed onto horizontal
substrates and vertical structures, in single coat thicknesses up to two
inches, to form effective and inexpensive insulation or fire barriers. Further, for wood structures that do not
require additional insulation, e.g., framing and exterior siding, thin layers
of hydrolytic cements containing inorganic earth pigments provide inexpensive
fire-retardant coatings in a wide variety of colors.
Magnetic Circuit Composites
In principle, increased performance, efficiency, and
reliability for a wide variety of industrial coils and windings, solenoid
valves, relays, motors, etc., can be achieved by encapsulation in electrical
insulating materials of high magnetic permeability. For low temperature
applications, this encapsulation problem is inexpensively solved by mixing
ferrite powders in epoxy cements, even though the heat generated by hysterisis
and eddy current losses raises temperatures to levels which eventually
deteriorate the epoxy. In another
popular approach to the problem, i.e., ferrite-doped ceramics, ceramic-forming
temperatures exceeding the melting point of coil wires will preclude actual encapsulation
of the coils. However, since hydrolytic
cements readily bond to ferrites, possess high melting points, are good
dielectrics, and cure at ambient temperature, it is perfectly feasible to
produce a near-ideal magnetic circuit composite having high permeability for
total encapsulation of desired coil sections.
In this respect, IHL will fabricate a variety of prototype magnetic
circuit composites for evaluation, and successful AHC magnetic encapsulation
processes are expected to find immediate, unparalleled, acceptance in the
electrical industry.
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY
IHL’s
product development strategy is intentionally designed to provide maximum use
of resources across a broad front in critical areas of marketing support. These areas include: responsiveness to
requests from potential licensees for customized samples, i.e., AHC materials
with pre-specified thermophysical properties; continuous updating of a
computerized AHC data base of chemical formulations versus physical properties;
development of empirical scaling relations for estimating final properties of
AHC materials; and assessing customer feedback as it relates to innovative
applications for AHC products.
Customer Tests
Customer testing places maximum emphasis on
innovation while expanding the routine AHC prototype development scenario,
i.e., parametric material preparation, to include iterative test and
evaluation. For example, by selectively
varying hydrolytic cement weight percentages, percent compression, aggregate
size distributions, bulk densities, etc., during the prototype development
phase, subsequent measurements of such factors as dry density, compressive and
tensile strength, and microwave transmissivity will enable IHL to develop
engineering estimators for an extensive range of AHC composites.
In-house Tests
IHL’s prioritized list of in-house AHC development
candidates not only emphasizes high value-added, unique breakthrough areas, and
AHC applications where competition is non-existent, but also focuses on AHC
products requiring minimal developmental and/or certification testing. Realistically, however, AHC prototype
development requires a variety of optimization tests, and, in certain
instances, it is necessary for IHL to contract with outside independent test
laboratories for certification of finalized AHC products.
AHC Technology Database
IHL’s computerized database requires certain common
information on all candidate AHC materials.
This information includes: formulation parameters, aggregate densities,
reaction and curing rates, strength data, melting points, flammability,
relative thermal conductivity, solubility, and curing shrinkage. However, many additional performance
requirements enter into the final validation and acceptance of a given AHC
product under specified operating conditions.
Therefore, to expedite in-house validation and acceptance of prototype
AHC products, IHL’s data base of common AHC material fabrication parameters is
customarily augmented with the following types of performance specifications:
"R" values, microwave absorptivity and reflectivity, full industry
fire test standards, resistance to weathering, freeze-thaw cycling, etc.
AHC Technology Handbook
With few exceptions, every AHC material prepared
since the inception of IHL’s prototype development laboratory has been coded by
serial numbers that trace to laboratory notebooks. These working notebooks, in turn, not only provide information
needed to replicate specific fabrication processes, but also summarize
available physical properties and test data.
In addition, to the extent that time and sufficiency of information have
allowed, IHL has transferred this information to AHC technology development
monographs, and this documentation effort will continue. These monographs, procedures, recipes, and
recorded data will eventually be formatted into an AHC Technology Handbook.
Expanded Patent Coverage
At present, AHC technology has evolved well beyond the
scope of individual patents and it has become increasingly necessary to pursue
protection of IHL’s proprietary interests and knowledge through negotiated
secrecy agreements. Therefore, in conjunction with expanded product development
efforts, selected areas of AHC technology are periodically reviewed for possible
incorporation into new patent applications. This approach not only enables IHL to negotiate
with potential licensees in a greater spirit of good faith, with decreased
emphasis on secrecy agreements but also assists in reaching certain interested
large corporations who refuse to consider any technology that is not explicitly
covered by patents.
Expanded
Reference Library
Many technical references are either not readily
available or of such routine utility that greater emphasis must be placed on
updating IHL’s technical library. For
this purpose, regular acquisitions include: ASTM, ANSI, ICBO standards and
specifications; construction industry trade publications; patents related to AHC
technology; and the results of selected market surveys.
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