A thermally dissipative article and a method of forming a thermally dissipative article are disclosed. The thermally dissipative article includes a component, a porous material formed in a layer on the component. The method of forming a thermally dissipative article includes providing a metal powder mixture and a soluble particulate mixture which forms a porous coating upon sintering and immersion in a solvent to remove the soluble particulate.

A carrier gas recovery system for use in cold spray manufacturing recovers carrier gas utilized during the cold spray process and recycles the carrier gas for immediate use or stores the carrier gas for future use. The carrier gas recovery system includes an enclosure subsystem, a filtration subsystem, a reclamation subsystem, and a compensation subsystem. An article is placed in the enclosure and particulate matter is carried to the article on a carrier gas stream. Carrier gas in the enclosure is filtered through the filtration subsystem to remove particulate from the carrier gas, and the filtered carrier gas is fed to the reclamation subsystem. The carrier gas either flows to a gas separator, to increase the concentration of carrier gas, or to the compensation subsystem if the carrier gas concentration is sufficiently high. The carrier gas can be stored in the compensation subsystem or used in further cold spray manufacturing.

The present invention is directed to methods for formation of refractory carbide, nitride, and boride coatings without use of a binding agent. The present invention is directed to methods of creating refractory coatings with controlled porosity. Refractory coatings can be formed from refractory metal, metal oxide, or metal/metal oxide composite refractory coating precursor of the 9 refractory metals encompassed by groups 4-6 and periods 4-6 of the periodic table; non-metallic elements (e.g. Si & B) and their oxides (i.e. SiO.sub.2 & B.sub.2O.sub.3) are also pertinent. The conversion of the refractory coating precursor to refractory carbide, nitride or boride is achieved via carburization, nitridization, or boridization in the presence of carbon-containing (e.g. CH.sub.4), nitrogen containing (e.g. NH.sub.3), and boron-containing (e.g. B.sub.2H.sub.6) gaseous species. Any known technique of applying the refractory coating precursor can be used. The porosity of resultant refractory coatings is controlled through compositional manipulation of composite refractory coating precursors.

The present invention is directed to methods for formation of refractory carbide, nitride, and boride coatings without use of a binding agent. The present invention is directed to methods of creating refractory coatings with controlled porosity. Refractory coatings can be formed from refractory metal, metal oxide, or metal/metal oxide composite refractory coating precursor of the 9 refractory metals encompassed by groups 4-6 and periods 4-6 of the periodic table; non-metallic elements (e.g. Si & B) and their oxides (i.e. SiO.sub.2 & B.sub.2O.sub.3) are also pertinent. The conversion of the refractory coating precursor to refractory carbide, nitride or boride is achieved via carburization, nitridization, or boridization in the presence of carbon-containing (e.g. CH.sub.4), nitrogen containing (e.g. NH.sub.3), and boron-containing (e.g. B.sub.2H.sub.6) gaseous species. Any known technique of applying the refractory coating precursor can be used. The porosity of resultant refractory coatings is controlled through compositional manipulation of composite refractory coating precursors.

A method of improving a structure of a component adjacent a feature is provided including removing a portion of the structure including at least one area where damage of corrosion has occurred or is likely to occur to expose a surface of the structure. A masking plug is installed into the feature such that a base of the masking plug is coupled to a first portion of the feature and a head of the masking plug is arranged adjacent a second portion of the feature. A structural deposit is formed on the surface and is integral with the structure. Excess material of the structural deposit and a portion of the head of the masking plug is removed. The second portion of the feature is reformed and the masking plug is removed from the feature.

A method of improving a structure of a component adjacent a feature is provided including removing a portion of the structure including at least one area where damage of corrosion has occurred or is likely to occur to expose a surface of the structure. A masking plug is installed into the feature such that a base of the masking plug is coupled to a first portion of the feature and a head of the masking plug is arranged adjacent a second portion of the feature. A structural deposit is formed on the surface and is integral with the structure. Excess material of the structural deposit and a portion of the head of the masking plug is removed. The second portion of the feature is reformed and the masking plug is removed from the feature.

A nozzle for a thermal spray gun and a method of thermal spraying are disclosed. The nozzle has a combustion chamber within which fuel is burned to produce a stream of combustion gases. The stream of heated gases exits through an annular exhaust which is located around an aerospike. The stream converges outside the nozzle and powdered coating material is introduced into the converging stream immediately downstream of the aerospike. The coating material is heated and accelerated before impacting on a substrate to be coated.

A system for in situ repair of a metal pipe has a pipe repair head, an actuation assembly, an electrical power supply, and a controller. The pipe repair head can have an arm extending along a radiation direction of the pipe and a Joule heating element coupled to a distal end portion of the arm. The actuation assembly can move the pipe repair head along the axial and/or circumferential directions of the metal pipe. The controller controls the actuation assembly to position the pipe repair head with respect to a surface portion of the inner circumferential wall. The controller can then control the electrical power supply to apply a current pulse to the Joule heating element so as to generate a temperature of at least 1000° C. proximal to the surface portion, thereby sintering a metal powder in a slurry on the surface portion to form a metal repair layer.

A forming method of an yttrium oxide fluoride (YOF) coating film and a (YOF) coating film formed thereby are disclosed. The YOF coating film has no or extremely small pores therein and a nanostructure to increase light transmittance thereof, and has high hardness and high bonding strength and thus can protect a transparent window of a display device. The method for forming an YOF coating film involves the steps of: providing pretreated YOF powder having a particle diameter ranging from 0.1 to 12 μm; receiving a transfer gas supplied from a transfer gas supply unit and receiving the pretreated YOF powder supplied from a powder supply unit to transfer the pretreated YOF powder in an aerosol state; and colliding/smashing (spraying) the pretreated YOF powder transferred in the aerosol state with/onto a substrate in a process chamber to form an YOF coating film on the substrate.

A forming method of an yttrium oxide fluoride (YOF) coating film and a (YOF) coating film formed thereby are disclosed. The YOF coating film has no or extremely small pores therein and a nanostructure to increase light transmittance thereof, and has high hardness and high bonding strength and thus can protect a transparent window of a display device. The method for forming an YOF coating film involves the steps of: providing pretreated YOF powder having a particle diameter ranging from 0.1 to 12 μm; receiving a transfer gas supplied from a transfer gas supply unit and receiving the pretreated YOF powder supplied from a powder supply unit to transfer the pretreated YOF powder in an aerosol state; and colliding/smashing (spraying) the pretreated YOF powder transferred in the aerosol state with/onto a substrate in a process chamber to form an YOF coating film on the substrate.