The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a composite component of a timepiece or of a jewelry part, the composite component comprising a porous ceramic part and a metallic material filling the pores of said ceramic part, said method comprising the steps of: providing a porous ceramic preform of the component, providing a metallic material, heating the metallic material to a temperature higher than the melting point of the metallic material, filling the pores of the ceramic preform with the molten metallic material, cooling the metallic material and the ceramic preform to obtain a solidified metallic material in the pores of the ceramic preform, and applying finishing treatments to obtain the composite component,

wherein said porous ceramic preform consists essentially of a material selected from the group consisting of Si.sub.3N.sub.4, SiO.sub.2 and mixtures thereof, and said metallic material is selected from the group consisting of gold, platinum, palladium metals and alloys of these metals.

The invention relates also to a composite component of a timepiece or of a jewelry part comprising a porous ceramic part and a metallic material filling the pores of said ceramic part, wherein said porous ceramic part consists essentially of a material selected from the group consisting of Si.sub.3N.sub.4, SO.sub.2 and mixtures thereof, and said metallic material which is selected from the group consisting of gold, platinum, palladium metals and alloys of these metals.

The present invention relates to a method for the economic production of metallic parts, with high flexibility in the geometry attainable. It also relates to the material required for the manufacturing of those parts. The method of the present invention allows for a very fast manufacturing of the parts. Also some forming technologies applicable to polymers can be used. The method allows for the fast and economic production of complex geometry metallic parts.

Disclosed herein are structures comprising a titanium, zirconium, or hafnium powder particle with titanium carbide, zirconium carbide, or hafnium carbide (respectively) nano-whiskers grown directly from and anchored to the powder particle. Also disclosed are methods for fabrication of such structures, involving heating the powder particles and exposing the particles to an organic gas.

The invention relates to a highly heat conductive valve seat ring (1) comprising a carrier layer (2) and a functional layer (3), wherein the carrier layer (2) consists of a solidified copper matrix containing 0.10 to 20% w/w of a solidifying component and the functional layer (3) consists of a solidified copper matrix which further contains, based on the copper matrix, 5 to 35% w/w of one or more hard phases.

The invention relates to a highly heat conductive valve seat ring (1) comprising a carrier layer (2) and a functional layer (3), wherein the carrier layer (2) consists of a solidified copper matrix containing 0.10 to 20% w/w of a solidifying component and the functional layer (3) consists of a solidified copper matrix which further contains, based on the copper matrix, 5 to 35% w/w of one or more hard phases.

A solid-state additive manufacturing additive manufacturing system applicable to building up 3D structures, coating and functionalizing surfaces, joining structures, adding customized features to objects, compounding proprietary compositions and repairing various structures is disclosed. The solid-state additive manufacturing system enables deposition of different fillers, viz. metals, metal alloys, MMCs, polymers, plastics, composites, hybrids and gradient compositions, as well as controls the resulting deposit structures, e.g. specific nano-/micro-, gradient- and porous-material structures. The system accommodates various feeding-, spindle- and tool-designs for depositing different forms of filler materials, viz. rods, wires, granules, powders, powder-filled-tubes, scrap pieces or their combination, and a working platform with multiple access points. One or multiple motors, driving and monitoring units control the movement of the workpiece, spindle and tool and move the filler through the feeding system, which passageway is in communication with the passageways of the spindle and the tool.

The invention is a process for manufacturing a nano aluminum/alumina metal matrix composite and composition produced therefrom. The process is characterized by providing an aluminum powder having a natural oxide formation layer and an aluminum oxide content between about 0.1 and about 4.5 wt. % and a specific surface area of from about 0.3 and about 5 m.sup.2/g, hot working the aluminum powder, and forming a superfine grained matrix aluminum alloy. Simultaneously there is formed in situ a substantially uniform distribution of nano particles of alumina. The alloy has a substantially linear property/temperature profile, such that physical properties such as strength are substantially maintained even at temperatures of 250° C. and above.

The invention is a process for manufacturing a nano aluminum/alumina metal matrix composite and composition produced therefrom. The process is characterized by providing an aluminum powder having a natural oxide formation layer and an aluminum oxide content between about 0.1 and about 4.5 wt. % and a specific surface area of from about 0.3 and about 5 m.sup.2/g, hot working the aluminum powder, and forming a superfine grained matrix aluminum alloy. Simultaneously there is formed in situ a substantially uniform distribution of nano particles of alumina. The alloy has a substantially linear property/temperature profile, such that physical properties such as strength are substantially maintained even at temperatures of 250° C. and above.

An alloy produced by powder metallurgy including a non-amorphous matrix. The alloy consists of, in weight % (wt. %): C 0-0.15, Si 0-2.5, Mn 0-15, Cr 0-25, Mo 4-35, B 0.2-2.8, optional elements, balance Fe and/or Ni apart from impurities. The alloy comprises 3-35 volume % hard phase particles, the hard phase particles comprises at least one of borides, nitrides, carbides and/or combinations thereof, at least 90% of the hard phase particles have a size of less than 5 μm, and at least 50% of the hard phase particles have a size in the range of 0.3-3 μm.

Provided is a sintered bearing for an EGR valve, including raw material powder including 9% by weight to 12% by weight of aluminum, 0.1% by weight to 0.6% by weight of phosphorus, 3% by weight to 10% by weight of graphite, and the balance including copper as a main component, and inevitable impurities. The sintered bearing has a structure of a sintered aluminum-copper alloy. The sintered bearing further includes free graphite distributed in pores formed so as to be dispersed.