To our valued Employees, Partners, Shareholders and Customers,
As 2017 comes to an end, we would like to thank all our clients, employees, stakeholders for their continued effort and support for Terves and Powdermet’s products and technologies. We are now stronger than ever in terms of product pipeline, production capability, team and capital to benefit from the rebounding oil and gas, electric vehicle, and defense markets. We have made significant investment in expanding TervAlloy alloy offerings and production capacity, and are excited to meet the growing product needs of our customers.

In 2018, we expect Terves to continue expanding its market share in the rebounding oil and gas market. We expect that Terves will commercialize at least 8 new products, including but not limited to, TervAlloy-MMC (dissolvable metal matrix composites), High Strength Dissolvable Balls, NanoDense™ (heavy brine fluids), VisionFrax™ (acoustic imaging/energetic proppant), XOProp™ (expandable proppants), AquaLock™ (liquid tarp for evaporation control), Exalon™ (expandable polymers), and NanoBond™ (fine production and sand control solutions).

At Powdermet, we continue to work on developing new technologies and complete development of products/technologies that we have been working-on for the past few years. We expect to commercialize our HybriCap™ hybrid ceramic-polymer high-energy density film capacitor, and HybriMet™ hierarchically structured metal-ceramic nanocomposites for bearing and wear pad applications – both these technologies have shown an order of magnitude improvement in performance compared to the current state of art and we are truly excited to build new companies around these technology platforms. We are particularly excited about opportunities in electrification of transportation, concentrating solar power and other large-scale energy storage opportunities.

Given what we know and what we expect, things are shaping up really well for a solid 2018.

From my family to yours, I wish you a happy and healthy new year!

Sincerely,
Andrew Sherman
CEO – Powdermet Inc. and Terves Inc.

TervAlloy™ HT (High Temperature)
A patent pending high-temperature dissolvable TervAlloy™ that can reliably operate at temperatures up to 300°F for making dissolvable plugs, balls, seats, slips, cones and other oilfield tools.

TervAlloy™ FW+
A patent-pending fresh water dissolvable alloy presents the best of both worlds – dissolution at extremely low salinity levels (1,000 ppm) with mechanical characteristics comparable to our industry-leading TAx-100E alloy.

TervAlloy™ HD (High Ductility)
A patent pending high-ductility version of our dissolvable TervAlloy™ TAx-100E alloys with over double the elongation for making dissolvable plugs, balls, seats, slips, cones and other oilfield tools.

Elementum™ Dissolvable Elastomer
Elementum™ is a family of patent-pending high-performance, moldable and machinable elastomer that is designed to fragment and dissolve to tiny particles after exposure to downhole brine solution at temperatures above 150°F.

AquaLock™
Our patent-pending AquaLock™ is a durable, self-dispersing reflective buoyant coating designed to eliminate water evaporation from storage ponds at well sites. This unique reflective nanotechnology is formulated so that it forms a thin film on the surface of stored water to reflect sunlight and heat that eliminates evaporation and algae growth.

TervAlloy™ MMC
TervAlloy MMC™ is a patent-pending high-stiffness, erosion-resistant dissolvable material that offers up to 50 Rockwell C hardness, and high stiffness for valve seats, scrapers, grips/clamping elements, and ultra-high-pressure rating frac balls and seats. It is an excellent replacement for ceramics and cast-iron components in oilfield tools.

High Strength Dissolvable Ball
Terves is in the final stages of development and subsequent qualification of a new dissolvable high-strength, high hardness ball to increase pressure ratings on sliding sleeve applications to 10,000 psig or greater.

NanoDense™ High Density Brine Additive
A Calcium Bromide brine weighting addition for replacing cesium formate and zinc bromide brines. Terves has devised a high density additive fluid that allows to increase the density of 14.5 pound per gallon (ppg) calcium bromide brine up to 17 ppg.

NanoBond™ Sand and Fines Control Solution
This patent-pending nano-additive is able to form an adherent surface to in-situ sand, gravel pack, or formation surfaces to stabilize (strengthen) the near-wellbore environment and prevent fines and sand migration, enabling higher fluid velocities and production rates to be achieved without sand or fines production.

VisionFrax™ Mapping Proppant
This patent-pending lightweight proppant is unique in that once in-situ and exposed to specific downhole conditions, VisionFrax™, reacts and generates an audible signal in response to time, fracture closing/width, or critical stresses. This “pop rocks for wells” signal is capable of being received through hydraulic pathways; and ultimately allows the completions organization the ability to accurately map the penetration and location of this proppant throughout their frac cavity.

XOProp™ Expandable Proppant
XOProp™ is a patent-pending expandable proppant based on phase change composites that react to the downhole environment to expand in a controllable manner and apply force, in-situ. This expansion can be accomplished while retaining permeability, and is uniform, irreversible, controlled, and has the capability to exert forces of over 10,000 PSI.

Exalon™ Dissolvable Elastomer
Exalon™ Expandable Structural Polymer is a patent-pending GPa modulus swellable polymeric composite material available in pumpable and solid forms for in-situ fracture initiation, to counteract embedment and widen fine fractures in clay-containing (softer) formations, and for actuating tools such as self-deploying centralizers and sand control/wellbore stabilization devices.

HybriCap™ High Energy Density Capacitors
Our patented HybriCap™ is a fully functional, scalable, high-energy density film capacitor that offers energy densities of MW/cc, ideal for pulse power and large DC bus capacitor applications with high switching speeds. HybriCap™ is scalable to F sizes, self-healing, and more tolerant of temperature, vibration, and shock than MLCC alternatives.

HybriMet™ High Hardness, High Toughness Nanocomposites
Our patented HybriMet™ is the first commercially available hierarchical nanocomposite cermet, which provide low friction in low/no viscosity lubrication system. This revolutionary combination of properties represents the “holy grail” - the hardness and strength of ceramics with the toughness of steel — which has never been achieved before, despite 50 years of sustained research and development in consolidating composites.

Issued Patent: Manufacture of Controlled Rate Dissolving Materials
In validation of its development efforts Terves received initial allowance for all claims related to its core technology, lower-cost cast and wrought dissolvable or disintegrating magnesium materials (Patent No. US9757796 B2). With this initial validation, Terves is confident that its remaining developments, including advanced processing, higher strength and lower-cost dissolvable metals, dissolvable elastomer (rubber), trigger coatings, erosion and wear resistant dissolvable metal matrix composites, and expandable materials will allow it to further its leadership in this space.

This recently allowed US patent for manufacturing controlled rate dissolving materials grants Terves the sole right to develop, manufacture and sell cast, molded, forged, and extruded dissolvable magnesium materials containing galvanically active insoluble phases. Pending applications and product development efforts also cover heat treatable and eutectic forming alloys, triggerable, time-delay, wear, and acid-resistant coatings, dissolving metal-based tracer and triggered release monitoring and chemical release technology, alloy chemistries for specialized applications such as sealing, and extended temperature and operating ranges among other capabilities. Read More...

13 New Patents Filed
In 2017, Powdermet and Terves filed 13 new patents on new innovations covering planned new products and technologies. New patents include underlying technologies for NanoDense, AquaLock (2), NanoBond, TervAlloy FW+ and HT, InsAlloy™ structural insulators, Accelerated degradation methods, MMC’s, Ultrahigh strength magnesium nanocomposites, VisionFrax™, and Energy delivering proppants. This adds to the 8 patents filed in 2016 and brings us to a total of over 42 patents covering the application of nanotechnology and nano-enabled materials, many in oil and gas, and energy applications.

Dissolvable Frac Plugs made from TervAlloy Dissolvable Magnesium Lead the Industry in Cost and Reliability
Terves’ patented, dissolvable (or disintegrating) magnesium materials, TervAlloy™ (*Patent # US9757796 B2), has now been established as the cost and reliability leader for making dissolvable frac plugs. With over 50,000 stages completed using TervAlloy dissolvable frac balls and dissolvable frac plugs, Terves’ TervAlloy is the most widely used Dissolvable Metal in the industry. Read More...

Terves Launches Industry’s First High-Temperature Dissolvable Alloy for Operating Temperatures up to 300°F (150°C)
Terves launched Oil and Gas industry’s first High-Temperature Dissolvable Alloy, TervAlloy-HT (High Temperature), that is engineered to offer excellent mechanical properties and reliable dissolution at 300 Degrees Fahrenheit (or 150 Degrees Celsius). Read More...

Terves’ Continued Dissolvable Material Development for Oil and Gas Tools Receives U.S. Patent Protection
Terves received initial allowance for all claims related to its core technology, lower-cost cast and wrought dissolvable or disintegrating magnesium materials (Patent No. US9757796 B2). This recently allowed US patent for manufacturing controlled rate dissolving materials grants Terves the sole right to develop, manufacture and sell cast, molded, forged, and extruded dissolvable magnesium materials containing galvanically active insoluble phases. Read More...

Terves Publishes Information about Several New Products on its New Website
Terves’ new website has been updated with information about several of its recently launched and under-development products including new high temperature and fresh water dissolvable alloys, pumpable and expandable materials, tracers, and water preservation products. Read More...

In Situ Manufacturing of Nanoparticle Reinforced Aluminum Matrix Composites
Terves is supplying nanoparticle master alloys in a LIFT partnership to develop nanoparticle loaded high strength aluminum alloys for use in high temperature automotive applications. Terves is collaborating with several leading Universities, a major Aluminum Foundry, and Automobile manufacturers for this development effort.

Safe and green Hybrid Rocket Fuel Comp and Ignition Development
Terves received funding from NASA to develop and test a safe form of a liquid oxidizer for hybrid rocket motors to improve solid rocket fuels for launch vehicles.

Casing Removal Tool
Terves received funding from one of the largest oil and gas major to validate tools to increase the speed of casing removal over milling/drilling operations for plug and abandonment operations.

Heavy Brines
Terves received support from one of the world’s largest chemical companies to develop a calcium-bromide based heavy brine product to replace the expensive cesium formate and the toxic zinc bromide brines.

Ultra High Energy Density High Powder and High Efficiency Nanocomposite Capacitor for Aerospace Power System
Powdermet received funding from NASA for developing high-energy, high-power, high-temperature nanocomposite film capacitors. HybriCap nanocomposite film capacitors have an order of magnitude higher energy density, (>19.6 J/cc), high power density (MW/cc), high linearity and low loss tangents, fast discharge speed (sub microsecond), and high-operating voltage (KV) capabilities. The demonstrated energy density of HybriCap (>19.6 J/cc) is higher than any nanocomposite capacitors reported in the literature, and at least 16 times larger than the commercial BOPP film capacitor (1.2 J/cc).

Load Bearing Multifunctional TPS System
Powdermet received funding from DARPA to develop lightweight, low-cost, load bearing thermal protection structures, InsAlloy, for hypersonic vehicles. The InsAlloy™ material being developed and qualified under this project would have several other applications for replacing refractory ceramics and other structural thermal insulation products.

Bio-Amphiphilic Surface Modification for Cellulosic Nanomaterials as Structural Fillers
Powdermet received funding from the Department of Energy to develop novel coating methods to incorporate low cost nanocellulose fibers into polyethylene to create high performance polymer composites. Powdermet expects that significant intellectual property would be developed in this project which would be used to develop and commercialize compelling products in this space.

High Toughness Cermets for Molten Salt Pumps
Powdermet received funding from the Department of Energy to test and qualify high-hardness high-toughness nanocomposite materials, Hybrimet, for bearing and other structural components used in molten salt pumps. These molten salt pumps are being heavily used in Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) applications, which has emerged as the lowest cost energy source and is seeing increased adoption in Middle East and other hotter regions across the world. Powdermet is actively working with one of the largest pump manufacturer to drive the adoption of Hybrimet in molten salt pumps.

Chemical Consolidation for Water Injectors
Powdermet received support from an oil and gas major to develop a nanoparticle additives to improve the consolidation of sand. Powdermet has already filed a provisional patent for this product, NanoBond™, being developed and expects to enter into field trials in mid/late 2018.

In addition to these development partnerships, Powdermet continues to provide contract R&D and surface-engineered nanoparticle synthesis and toll production to a wide range of industry leaders, building on our 30-year history of advanced, engineered particle technology; while Terves is aggressively leveraging this technology base to solve major oil and gas upstream production cost and efficiency challenges.