????西雅圖一家創(chuàng)業(yè)公司發(fā)明了一種能夠以廉價節(jié)能的方式，“培育”高性能金屬材料的技術(shù)。這標(biāo)志著建筑、汽車以及石油和天然氣等行業(yè)將迎來一次重大的突破。

????這家成立7年的公司名叫Modumetal。現(xiàn)在澳大利亞、非洲和美國德克薩斯州沿海的一些鉆井平臺已經(jīng)開始使用該公司生產(chǎn)的金屬材料。據(jù)其介紹，這些金屬材料的抗海水腐蝕能力可達到傳統(tǒng)材料的8倍。

????最近，Modumetal公司在為其創(chuàng)新技術(shù)拓寬市場的道路上又邁進了一大步。該公司稱已獲得3350萬美元融資，這筆資金將用于擴大產(chǎn)能和銷量，以及繼續(xù)為其金屬材料開辟新用途。

????本輪融資由創(chuàng)業(yè)者基金領(lǐng)投，基金創(chuàng)始人之一是硅谷知名投資者彼得?泰爾，他曾投資過太空運輸公司SpaceX、房屋租賃服務(wù)公司Airbnb以及數(shù)據(jù)巨頭Palantir。其他投資者還包括三大石油公司旗下的風(fēng)投機構(gòu)，即雪佛龍技術(shù)風(fēng)險投資公司、BP創(chuàng)投和康菲石油。

????A Seattle startup has found a way to grow high performance metals in a cheap and energy efficient way, marking an important breakthrough for industries like construction, automotive, and oil and gas.

????You can already find some of the metals from seven-year-old company Modumetal on oil rigs off of the Australian and African coasts, as well as the U.S., off of Texas. Those metals can withstand the ocean’s corrosive power for up to eight times longer than conventional materials, according to the company.

????On Tuesday, Modumetal took a big step towards its goal of gaining a bigger market for its innovative recipe. The company said that it had raised $33.5 million in funding that will go to increasing production and sales along with developing new uses for its metals.

????The funding was led by the Founders Fund, the firm co-created by Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel that has previously invested in space cargo company SpaceX, room rental service Airbnb and data giant Palantir. Other investors include the venture arms of three oil big companies, Chevron Technology Ventures, BP Ventures and ConocoPhillips.

????Modumetal公司CEO兼聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人克里斯蒂娜?洛瑪瑟妮是一位物理學(xué)家，多年從事電化學(xué)和高級材料的研究工作。她向《財富》表示，其公司所使用的“金屬培育”技術(shù)，是“制造材料的理想途徑”，類似“大自然亙古以來，萬物生長進化的方式”。

????一些傳統(tǒng)的金屬材料提取和利用方式，往往離不開大量的熱能。很多金屬是從礦床中開采出來再通過高溫熔煉提取得到的。企業(yè)也可以對廢金屬進行重新利用，但它們必須先被熔煉再鑄成可用的形狀。

????相比之下，Modumetal公司的生產(chǎn)流程只使用電能，因此大大節(jié)省了能源。其金屬材料制作流程類似于非常傳統(tǒng)的電鍍工藝，——用電生成一層金屬鍍層覆蓋在物品表面。

????但差別在于，Modumetal公司使用的是納米技術(shù)，在分子層次進行操控，從而可以在非常精確的范圍內(nèi)更好地控制電鍍過程中的各種條件和生成物質(zhì)。從根本上說，該公司是在物品表層“培育”金屬，這種方式可以使金屬能便于成型以及改造材料特性。CEO洛瑪瑟妮稱，它就像是自然控制陽光、土壤、位置、溫度等生長環(huán)境，然后長出了一棵符合這些條件的樹木。

????Modumetal’s CEO and co-founder Christina Lomasney, a physicist who’s spent years working on electrochemistry and advanced materials, told Fortunethat the company’s metal growing process is “the ideal way of making materials.” It is similar to the way that “Mother Nature has evolved [growing things] over eons,” she said.

????Some of the more conventional ways to extract and use various types of metals often include large amounts of heat. Many metals are mined and then extracted from the ores through smelting at a high temperature. Companies can also reuse metal scraps, but they must be melted and cast into usable shapes.

????In contrast, Modumetal’s process only uses electricity, and therefore uses far less energy. The company’s metal process is similar to the more conventional method of electroplating, which is when electricity is used to create a metal coating on a surface.

????However, Modumetal uses nanotechnology — manipulation of matter at the molecular level — to micromanage at a very small scale to better control the conditions and substances through which electroplating occurs. Basically, the company grows metal on a surface in a way that makes it easier to shape and tinker with the material’s characteristics. Lomasney says it’s similar to how nature controls the environment related to a tree’s growth— sunlight, soil, location, temperature—and then creates a tree that is a product those conditions.

????通過這個過程，金屬一層一層地“長”出來。不同的分層培育方式可以制造出性能和形狀不同的多種金屬材料。洛瑪瑟妮介紹道，你可以把成品材料想象成膠合板，但每片“板層”是用納米科技造出來的。

????這種層狀金屬業(yè)界通常稱為“金屬層狀復(fù)合材料”。這種材料的誕生其實已經(jīng)有一段時間了。洛瑪瑟妮的突破在于使用了電化學(xué)生產(chǎn)工藝與納米技術(shù)，從而能夠以較低的成本和能耗，大批量生產(chǎn)金屬層狀復(fù)合材料，包括應(yīng)用到一些如石油鉆井設(shè)備等大塊物品的生產(chǎn)上。

????目前，該公司正在為客戶生產(chǎn)一種層狀復(fù)合鋅合金，其耐腐蝕性要好于傳統(tǒng)的鋅材料。但層狀復(fù)合鋼材可能將成為Modumental公司的一個大市場。該公司認(rèn)為，其堅固耐用的鋼材將成為鋼鐵行業(yè)的劃時代產(chǎn)品。

????Modumetal公司的原始技術(shù)是由洛瑪瑟妮和另一位創(chuàng)始人——化學(xué)工程師約翰?惠特克共同研發(fā)的。這對合作伙伴原本研究的是如何使用電化學(xué)技術(shù)清理有毒環(huán)境。后來美國國防部注意到了他們的研究，并主動找上門，請他們進行高級材料的研究，目標(biāo)是為士兵研制一種既堅固（能防彈）又耐久（能保持多年的防彈效果）的盔甲材料。

????在借鑒了研發(fā)盔甲材料的核心技術(shù)的基礎(chǔ)上，洛瑪瑟妮和惠特克創(chuàng)辦了Modumental公司。該公司目前在西雅圖開設(shè)了一間研發(fā)實驗室，在華盛頓州的莫爾特比開設(shè)了一家工廠，并在休斯頓開設(shè)了一間現(xiàn)場維護和支持服務(wù)辦事處。此次獲得的融資將有助于該公司擴大莫爾特比工廠的產(chǎn)能。

????雖然這家公司雄心勃勃，并且前景可觀，但創(chuàng)業(yè)的道路也可能是十分艱難的。對于小公司來說，擴大工廠產(chǎn)能尤為不易。大規(guī)模生產(chǎn)需要不斷精確地重復(fù)生產(chǎn)流程，且盡量避免變來變?nèi)ィ@對于新技術(shù)來說也是一種挑戰(zhàn)。

????除此之外，該公司的客戶很多都來自歷史悠久但變革緩慢的行業(yè)。雖然它已經(jīng)拿下了一些石油公司作為初期客戶，但很多大型金屬制造商、汽車公司、飛機制造廠和建筑企業(yè)極為重視風(fēng)險規(guī)避，因此可能不愿與由風(fēng)投支持的年輕創(chuàng)業(yè)公司合作。

????與此同時，一些全球最大的材料制造商和金屬企業(yè)憑借深厚的財力，也很有可能研發(fā)相應(yīng)的競爭性技術(shù)。Modumetal公司必須通過收購和法律行動，積極地保護自己的“命根子”——也就是專利技術(shù)。

????Modumetal公司將防腐金屬作為自己的第一個大市場，但該公司及其客戶還對許多其他可能性很感興趣。比如Modumetal已與美國最大的金屬板材制造商Steel Dynamics公司成立了一家合資企業(yè)，以研發(fā)新型金屬板材。

????金屬的生產(chǎn)并不是一個被經(jīng)常談?wù)摰脑掝}，也不是一個熱門的話題。但如果Modumental公司可以把它的產(chǎn)品打入從摩天大樓到飛機的各行各業(yè)，那么它很有可能將取得巨大的成功。這就好比3D打印技術(shù)帶來了一種給塑料等材料塑型的全新技術(shù)一樣，它將使很多之前要么無法達到、要么要花大力氣才能達到的工藝成為了可能。

????在19世紀(jì)，鋁還是一種非常昂貴的材料，只被用來制造拿破侖的鈕扣或餐刀餐叉等小玩意兒。但到了19世紀(jì)晚期，發(fā)明家查爾斯?馬丁?霍爾發(fā)明了廉價生產(chǎn)鋁的技術(shù)，從而創(chuàng)立了一個龐大的產(chǎn)業(yè)，另外他還創(chuàng)立了鋁業(yè)巨頭——美國鋁業(yè)公司。Modumetal公司哪怕能夠復(fù)制美國鋁業(yè)當(dāng)年的一小部分榮光，都將是巨大的成功。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：樸成奎

????審校：任文科

????The process creates a metal that is grown layer-by-layer. The different ways to grow the layers creates variety in the metal’s properties and shape. Lomasney says to think about the resulting material like plywood, but the plies, or pieces, are created at the nanotech level.

????The industry calls these layered metals “metal laminates,” and they’ve been around in the industry for a while. Lomasney’s breakthrough is using a chemical and electrical production process combined with nanotechnology to create the metal plywoods at a low cost, with low energy and with the ability to make the metal pieces in large volumes and with large pieces (think oil rig big).

????The company is making a laminated zinc alloy for its customers that want a metal that won’t corrode as fast as standard zinc. But laminated steel could be the big market for Modumental. The company considers its strong and long-lasting steel product as the next-generation of the steel industry.

????Modumetal’s original technology was created by Lomasney and her co-founder, chemical engineer John Whitaker. The partners previously worked on using electricity and chemistry to clean up toxic environments. After noticing their work, the Defense Department approached them to work on making advanced materials that could produce armor for soldiers that would be both very strong (stop bullets) but also last a long time (stop bullets over many years).

????Lomasney and Whitaker spun out the core armor-making tech to start Modumetal. The company now has a research and development lab in Seattle, a factory in Maltby, Wash., and a field services office in Houston, Tex. The funds will help the company grow production at its factory in Maltby.

????Despite the company’s ambition and promise, the startup world can be extraordinarily difficult. Expanding factory production can be particularly hard for a small company. Large scale manufacturing requires production to be precisely repeated over and over again, with little variation, which can be challenging with new technologies.

????In addition the company is selling into long established and sometimes slow moving industries. While the company seems to have won over oil companies early on, big metal makers, car companies, aviation firms and construction companies can be notoriously risk averse and tend to shy away from partnering with young venture-capital backed startups.

????Some of the biggest materials and metals companies around the world, which have some of the deepest pockets, and also are likely working on competitive technologies. The company will need to aggressively protect its patents —the core of its business—through both acquisition and legal action.

????Modumetal sees the corrosion-protected metals as its first big market. But there are many other possibilities that the company and its customers are interested in. For example, Modumetal has a joint venture with one of the largest U.S. sheet metal makers, Steel Dynamics, to come up with applications for an upgraded version of sheet metal in the future.

????Metal production isn’t often talked about. It’s not a particularly sexy topic. But if Modumetal can get its metals into everything from skyscrapers to airplanes, the company could make a big mark. It’s like how 3D printing is introducing an entirely new and easier way to print plastics and other materials into shapes that either couldn’t previously be made or would otherwise take a lot of effort to create.

????In the 1800’s, aluminum was so expensive to make that it was confined to trinkets like Napoleon’s buttons and flatwear, Lomasney says. But in the late 1800’s, inventor Charles Martin Hall created a way to inexpensively make aluminum. He created a massive new industry and co-founded aluminum giant Alcoa AA -1.10% . If Modumetal could gain a fraction of the traction that Alcoa has had it would be a major success.