Opportunities / ENERGY, DEPARTMENT OF

TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY: SiloGetter

Description (excerpt)

3D-Printed Siloxane Composites with Hydrogen Getter Capability Unwanted hydrogen is a silent threat inside sealed electronics, vacuum instruments and metal containers, where it clouds optics, embrittles metals and can build toward explosive levels. SiloGetter from Los Alamos National Laboratory answers that threat with a printable siloxane composite that captures hydrogen right at its source while carrying nearly 10 times the active getter content of earlier printed materials. Because the paste flows through nozzles as fine as 400 microns without clogging, protection can be shaped precisely to the geometry a device demands, and because the finished part keeps its strength instead of crumbling like a pressed pellet, that protection endures. The result is a rugged, made-to-fit hydrogen safeguard that quietly protects costly systems over the long term while absorbing more than 80% of the hydrogen it encounters. Overview The material relies on a straightforward principle carried out by two ingredients working together. Tiny particles of a palladium-on-carbon catalyst split incoming hydrogen molecules into reactive atoms, and a companion compound, DEB, permanently binds those atoms into its molecular structure so the hydrogen can no longer move or ignite. Both ingredients are dispersed throughout a siloxane polymer, a silicone-like plastic chosen because gases pass through it easily, which gives hydrogen a clear path to the active particles inside. The blended paste is then printed by direct ink writing, a method that pushes the resin through a fine nozzle and stacks it layer by layer into whatever shape the application requires. Once cured, the printed part behaves like a solid, high-surface-area sponge for hydrogen and keeps absorbing steadily until its capacity is reached. Technology Description At the heart of SiloGetter is a reformulated composite resin that resolves the trade-offs that limited earlier printed getters. Previous silicone-based getters could incorporate only about 5 weight percent of the active DEB and palladium-on-carbon getter, and their base resins tended to react with DEB at the temperatures reached during processing, which lowered both hydrogen capacity and mechanical integrity. The new siloxane formulation stays chemically inert toward DEB even at 75 degrees Celsius, so the active chemistry survives fabrication intact; that stability lets the composite carry roughly 50 weight percent getter, a nearly tenfold increase, without sacrifici …

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