Described herein are additive manufacturing methods and products made using such methods. The alloy compositions described herein are specifically selected for the additive manufacturing methods and provide products that exhibit superior mechanical properties as compared to their cast counterparts. Using the compositions and methods described herein, products that do not exhibit substantial coarsening, such as at elevated temperatures, can be obtained. The products further exhibit uniform microstructures along the print axis, thus contributing to improved strength and performance. Additives also can be used in the alloys described herein.

Disclosed are a silicon-aluminum alloy and its preparation method. The method comprises: adding aluminum metal or molten aluminum into a container, wherein the temperature of the molten aluminum is between 700° C. and 800° C.; adding a semi-metallic silicon raw material to the molten aluminum, closing a furnace cover, carrying out vacuumization, and introducing argon, to ensure that the interior of a magnetic induction furnace is in a positive-pressure state, and stirring the aluminum metal or molten aluminum with a graphite stirring head; powering on and heating so that the aluminum metal or molten aluminum is heated to 1000° C. or above and molten, and holding the temperature between 1000° C. and 1500° C.; and after alloying is completed, cooling the molten aluminum to 1000° C. or below, opening the furnace cover, pouring the silicon-aluminum alloy into a corresponding mold, and cooling for molding.

An alloy formed of aluminum, nickel, scandium and optionally one, two or more further metals. The aluminum alloy is suitable for additive manufacturing of lightweight highly thermally conductive components for aircraft, such as heat exchangers. In a first step, a powder of the described aluminum alloy is produced by additive manufacturing, such as laser melting in the L-PBF process. Large grains are able to grow epitaxially along the build direction thereby increasing phonon and electron mobility along the build direction. With this, a higher thermal conductivity can be achieved. In a second step, the preliminary part is hardened by precipitation of secondary phases at 250 to 400 C to form the hardened part. 3D-printed lightweight parts with high thermal conductivity are obtained.

A method of furnace-less brazing of a substrate is provided. The method includes providing a substrate having a brazing region thereon; disposing braze precursor material containing a nickel powder, an aluminum powder, and a platinum group metal powder on the brazing region; and initiating an exothermic reaction of the braze precursor material such that the exothermic reaction produces a braze material that reaches a braze temperature above the liquidus temperature for the braze material. A braze precursor material is also provided.

A method of furnace-less brazing of a substrate is provided. The method includes providing a substrate having a brazing region thereon; disposing braze precursor material containing a nickel powder, an aluminum powder, and a platinum group metal powder on the brazing region; and initiating an exothermic reaction of the braze precursor material such that the exothermic reaction produces a braze material that reaches a braze temperature above the liquidus temperature for the braze material. A braze precursor material is also provided.

An aluminum base composite material contains an aluminum polycrystal body being a polycrystal body of a plurality of aluminum base material phases partitioned by a grain boundary, a carbon nanotube part being formed of a carbon nanotube or an aggregate thereof and being dispersed in at least one aluminum base material phase, and an alumina part being formed of alumina and being dispersed in at least one aluminum base material phase. The carbon nanotube preferably has a sphere-equivalent diameter from 10 nm to 300 nm, and the number of the carbon nanotube part that is present in a cross-sectional area of 200 μm.sup.2 of the aluminum base composite material is preferably one or more.

An aluminum base composite material contains an aluminum polycrystal body being a polycrystal body of a plurality of aluminum base material phases partitioned by a grain boundary, a carbon nanotube part being formed of a carbon nanotube or an aggregate thereof and being dispersed in at least one aluminum base material phase, and an alumina part being formed of alumina and being dispersed in at least one aluminum base material phase. The carbon nanotube preferably has a sphere-equivalent diameter from 10 nm to 300 nm, and the number of the carbon nanotube part that is present in a cross-sectional area of 200 μm.sup.2 of the aluminum base composite material is preferably one or more.

This disclosure relates to a polycrystalline cubic boron nitride, PCBN, material that includes a binder matrix material containing nitride compounds. The nitride compounds are selected from HfN, VN, and/or NbN.

This disclosure relates to a polycrystalline cubic boron nitride, PCBN, material that includes a binder matrix material containing nitride compounds. The nitride compounds are selected from HfN, VN, and/or NbN.

The invention relates to a method for producing a semi-finished product comprising a foamable core comprising a foamable mixture that comprises at least one first metal having an aluminum content of at least approximately 80 wt. %, in relation to the quantity of the at least one first metal, and at least one foaming agent, wherein a layer of at least one second metal in the form of a non-foamable solid material and with an aluminum content of at least approximately 80 wt. %, in relation to the quantity of the at least one second metal, is respectively applied to at least one first and second surface of the core. The invention also relates to a corresponding semi-finished product and to the use of such a semi-finished product for foaming a metal.