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Materials Research Laboratory
SRI's Materials Research Laboratory offers interdisciplinary, problem-solving
materials scientists and chemical engineers with expertise in materials research
and development, fracture mechanics, and prototype production. We develop
applied coating technologies for corrosion and oxidation resistance,
electronic materials, systems for energy generation and pollution abatement,
and heterogeneous catalysts.
Our materials expertise includes:
- Coating technologies
- Catalysts, combustion, and flames
- Ceramic synthesis and sintering
- Corrosion measurements and prevention
- Deposition of thin films and coatings
- Electrical, electronic, and optoelectronic materials and systems
- Electrochemical materials and processes
- Energy generation, use, and distribution
- Environmental remediation and waste disposal
- Fracture mechanics
- Fuel cells and semi-fuel cell systems
- High-temperature materials and processes
- Hydrogen production, storage, and use
- Hydrothermal processes
- Metals and minerals, including production and economics
- Optoelectronic systems
- Phosphor development
- Pollution abatement
- Powders and pigments
- Production and purification of materials
- Solar cells
- Solid-state ion-conducting materials
- Semiconductors
- Sensors, monitors, diagnostics, and analytical methods
- Superconductors
Discover more about our: Innovative Technologies, Facilities, and IP Portfolio
Innovative Technologies
A selection of our team's innovative technologies include:
- Fluidized bed reactor technology for depositing metallic, ceramic, semiconducting, and superconducting coatings
- Pilot-scale demonstration of a novel TiO2 pigment production process
- Pilot-scale demonstration of assisted hydrothermal oxidation of chloroaromatics
- Bench-scale demonstration of hydrothermal nitrite oxidation, a process for removing HCl vapor to sub ppm levels at elevated temperatures
- Production of solar-grade silicon from sodium fluorosilicate
Our Staff
The Materials Research Laboratory's professional staff are an interdisciplinary group of materials scientists, metallurgists, electrochemists, physical chemists, and chemical engineers with broad experience and a proven track record of services to industry and government. Our staff has a strong background in thermochemistry, which permits them to evaluate and predict the likely behavior of suggested materials including oxidation, corrosion, and the feasibility of proposed processes by application of fundamental thermochemical data. Our staff is also particularly knowledgeable in chemical and electrochemical process kinetics. They use their skills in the design and preliminary assessment of proposed processes to guide and interpret laboratory and bench-scale research efforts in the areas of combustion, pollution abatement, hydrothermal technology, electrochemical processes, and coatings development. On projects where additional expertise is needed, such as technoeconomic analysis, and management and marketing, specialists from other groups at SRI collaborate with the Materials and Processes Laboratory staff.
Facilities
Many of our facilities were designed and developed by SRI and include unique capabilities for added
benefits in client projects:
- Knudsen cell mass spectrometer, used to determine the high-temperature
thermodynamic properties of materials, evaluate the stability
of materials, and investigate the chemistry of high temperature
industrial processes.
- Temperature-programmed reaction apparatus rapidly measures the rates of catalytic reactions and provides insight into chemical intermediates involved in reaction mechanisms.
- Microwave and radio frequency generators, equipped with coupling
devices for chemical and catalytic reactors to study radiation
promoted processes.
- Special fluidized bed reactors (FBR), used for applying precision
coatings on particulate and massive substrates by chemical vapor
deposition (CVD). Our unique technique allows deposition at faster
rates and lower temperatures than possible with normal CVD methods.
- Hydrothermal technology facility, which includes six bench-scale
units for conducting basic and applied research under high-temperature
and high-pressure conditions. Custom-built instruments include
diamond observation cell, UV cell for in situ kinetic measurements,
and automated plug flow reactor for high-temperature, high-pressure
applications.
Our IP Portfolio
The SRI Materials and Processes Laboratory team's technology portfolio includes:
- Corrosion-Resistant Coatings for Steels Used in Bromide-Based Absorption Cycles (U.S. Patent 6,399,216, June 2002)
- Fluidized Bed Reactor to Deposit a Material on a Surface by Chemical Vapor
Deposition, and Methods of Forming a Coated Substrate (U.S. Patent
5,855,678, January 1999)
- Method for Hot and Supercritical Water Oxidation of Halogenated
Organic Compounds with Addition of Specific Reactants (U.S. Patent
No. 5,746,926; May 5, 1998)
- Stable High Conductivity Functionally Gradient Compositionally Layered Solid
State Electrolytes and Membrane (U.S. Patent 5,725,965; March
10, 1998)
- Environmentally Acceptable Waste Disposal by Hydrothermal Decomposition of Labile Compounds with Nitrite (U.S. Patent No. 5,709,800; January 20, 1998)
- Solid State Reference Electrode for High Temperature Electrochemical
Measurements (U.S. Patent 5,425,871; June 20, 1995)
- Environmentally Acceptable Waste Disposal by Conversion of Hydrothermally Labile Compounds (U.S. Patent No. 5,409,617, April 25, 1995)
- Method and Apparatus for Measuring Zeta Potentials at High Temperature (U.S Patent 5,280,250, January 18, 1994)
- Low-Temperature Method of Forming Materials (coatings) Using One or More Metal Reactants and a Halogen Containing Reactant to Form One or More Reactive Intermediates (U.S. Patent 5,227,195, July 13, 1993)
Contact Us
For more information about SRI's Materials and Processes Laboratory,
how to work with our team, and put our innovations to work, contact:
Angel Sanjurjo
650-859-5215
angel.sanjurjo@sri.com
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R&D Divisions