An additively manufactured alloy component has a first portion formed of the alloy and having a first grain size, and a second portion formed of the alloy and having a second grain size smaller than the first grain size. In an embodiment, the alloy component is an alloy turbine disk, the first portion is a rim region of the alloy turbine disk, and the second portion is a hub region of the alloy turbine disk. The first and second grain sizes may be achieved by controllably varying the laser power and/or scan speed during additive manufacturing.

The present invention relates to a method of forming a three-dimensional component by additive layer manufacturing. The method comprises scanning a fusing energy beam having a fusing beam focus spot across a layer of powered material in a series of fusing scan lines to fuse the powder material to form a layer of fused material whilst scanning a heating energy beam having a heating beam focus spot in a series of heating scan lines across the material fused by the fusing energy beam. The centre of the fusing beam focus spot and the centre of the heating beam focus spot are off-set from one another and spaced by up to an amount equal to the sum of the radius (y) of the heating beam focus spot and two times the radius (x) of the fusing beam focus spot.

A component is fabricated in a powder bed by moving a laser array across the powder bed. The laser array includes a plurality of laser devices. The power output of each laser device of the plurality of laser devices is independently controlled. The laser array emits a plurality of energy beams from a plurality of selected laser devices of the plurality of laser devices to generate a melt pool in the powder bed. A non-uniform energy intensity profile is generated by the plurality of selected laser devices. The non-uniform energy intensity profile facilitates generating a melt pool that has a predetermined characteristic.

A method of manufacturing a thermoelectric material comprising: ball-milling a compound comprising a plurality of components, the first component M comprising at least one of a rare earth metal, an actinide, an alkaline-earth metal, and an alkali metal, the second component T comprising a metal of subgroup VIII, and the third component X comprises a pnictogen atom. The compound may be ball-milled for up to 5 hours, and then thermo-mechanically processed by, for example, hot pressing the compound for less than two hours. Subsequent to the thermo-mechanical processing, the compound comprises a single filled skutterudite phase with a dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) above 1.0 and the compound has a composition following a formula of MT.sub.4X.sub.12.

A sintered material for use in an internal combustion engine, such as a valve seat insert, is provided. The material includes a pressed base powder metal mixture and a Cu-rich phase infiltrated in pores of the base powder metal mixture. The base powder metal mixture includes at least one of Mo and W, and at least one additive, such as B, N, and/or C. The amount of the Mo and/or W is 50 wt. % to 85 wt. %, based on the total weight of the material. The at least one additive is present in a total amount of 0.2 to 25 wt. %, based on the total weight of the material, and the Cu-rich phase is present in an amount of 15 wt. % to 50 wt. %, based on the total weight of the material. The material also has a thermal conductivity of at least 70 W/mK.

Methods and systems for producing feedstock powders, suitable for use in laser-based additive manufacturing, use laser ablation to vaporize a source material, which may be in bulk solid or solid coarse grain form. The source material is vaporized by a laser (or other focused energy source) in a vaporization chamber that is temperature controlled to provide a vertical thermal gradient. The vertical thermal gradient may be controlled to, in turn, control the nucleation, coagulation, and agglomeration of the vaporized molecules, enabling formation of microparticles that may then be used as feedstock powders in laser-based additive manufacturing. The produced feedstock powder particles may be of uniform composition, of uniform shape (e.g., substantially spherical), and of uniform phase or homogeneously mixed phases.

A composite member is manufactured by a manufacturing method including adding, on a surface of a base member composed of a first material, a second material different from the first material, using additive manufacturing employing directed energy deposition as an additive manufacturing process. The manufacturing method is performed by placing the base member in a machining area of a machine tool configured to perform subtractive machining. Accordingly, a composite member can be obtained that is manufactured through additive manufacturing and that is in a state in which the composite member can be promptly machined.

A sliding member (1) is formed of a sintered compact. The sintered compact includes: a base layer (3), which mainly contains an Fe-based structure and further contains 1.0 wt % to 5.0 wt % of Cu, a metal having a melting point lower than a melting point of Cu, and C; and a sliding layer (2), which is sintered together with the base layer (3) in a state of being held in contact with the base layer (3) and has a sliding surface (A). The sliding layer (2) mainly contains an Fe-based structure containing at least one kind of alloy element selected from Ni, Mo, Mn, and Cr and further contains Cu and C, and the content of Cu in the sliding layer (2) is larger than the content of Cu in the base layer.

A method for creating electrically or thermally conductive vias in both vertical and horizontal orientations in a dielectric material has the steps of: (a) depositing a powder comprising metallic particles on a planar surface of a dielectric material having through or blind vias; (b) drying the deposited powder of metallic particles; (c) polishing the powder of metallic powders into the through or blind vias; (d) repeating steps (a)-(c) on a reverse side of the dielectric material; and (e) repeating steps (a)-(d) until no unfilled vias are detected.

Provided is a sputtering target which contains Na in high concentration and, despite this, is inhibited from discoloration, generating spots, and causing abnormal electrical discharge and which has high strength and rarely breaks. Also provided is a method for producing the sputtering target. The sputtering target has a component composition that contains 10 to 40 at % of Ga and 1.0 to 15 at % of Na as metal element components other than F, S, and Se, with the remainder composed of Cu and unavoidable impurities, wherein the Na is contained in the form of at least one Na compound selected from sodium fluoride, sodium sulfide, and sodium selenide. The sputtering target has a theoretical density ratio of 90% or higher, a flexural strength of 100 N/mm.sup.2 or higher, and a bulk resistivity of 1 m.Math.cm or less. The number of 0.05 mm.sup.2 or larger aggregates of the at least one of sodium fluoride, sodium sulfide, and sodium selenide present per cm.sup.2 area of the target surface is 1 or less on average.