A method of forming magnetic/plasmonic hybrid structures is disclosed. The method includes synthesizing colloidal magnetic nanoparticles; modifying the magnetic nanoparticles in a solution of a polymeric ligand; binding metal seed nanoparticles to the surface of the magnetic nanoparticles; and performing a seed-mediated growth on the metal seed nanoparticles by reducing a metal salt in solution to form the magnetic/plasmonic hybrid structures.

Nanoparticles, nanoparticle conjugates, devices for making nanoparticles and nanoparticle conjugates, and related methods of use and synthesis are described.

A method for manufacturing a powder-modified magnesium alloy chip for thixomolding includes a drying step of heating a mixture containing an Mg chip containing Mg as a main component, a C powder containing C as a main component, a binder, and an organic solvent to dry the organic solvent contained in the mixture, and a stirring step of stirring the mixture heated in the drying step.

A system may include a powder source; a powder delivery device; an energy delivery device; and a computing device. The computing device may be configured to: control the powder source to deliver metal powder to the powder delivery device; control the powder delivery device to deliver the metal powder to a surface of an abrasive coating; and control the energy delivery device to deliver energy to at least one of the abrasive coating or the metal powder to cause the metal powder to be joined to the abrasive coating.

A method of synthesizing core-shell nanohybrids is described herein. The method includes providing first nanoparticles and second nanoparticles in a liquid medium at a pH at which the first nanoparticles are neutral and the second nanoparticles are negatively charged, allowing the first nanoparticles to homoaggregate and form a core of at least one of the first nanoparticles, and allowing the second nanoparticles to heteroaggregate with the homoaggregated first nanoparticles to form a shell on the core so as to provide the core-shell nanohybrids. A nanohybrid is additionally described herein, which includes a core including at least one neutral nanoparticle within a shell containing charged nanoparticles, wherein the shell further includes nanogaps configured to allow access of substrates to the core.

The disclosure describes an example technique that includes cold spraying first particles and second particles of a metal alloy on at least a portion of a surface of a substrate to form a deposit on the surface of the substrate. The first and second particles have been subjected to different heat treatments prior to cold spraying. Cold spraying involves accelerating the first particles and the second particles toward the surface of the substrate without melting or creating other thermally induced changes to a microstructure of the first and second particles. As a result, the first particles form a first, heat-treated component and the second particles form a second non-heat-treated or differently-heat-treated component, and the particles and substrate are not subject to a heat treatment during the cold spray process that may further modify their thermomechanical properties.

Methods for preparing a layered metal nanocomposite and a layered metal nanocomposite. The method includes mixing a magnesium salt and a aluminum salt to form a Mg.sup.2+/Al.sup.3+ solution. The Mg/Al has a molar ratio of between 0.5:1 to 6:1. Then a diamondoid compound is added to the Mg.sup.2+/Al.sup.3+ solution to form a reactant mixture. The diamondoid compound has at least one carboxylic acid moiety. The reactant mixture is heated at a reaction temperature for a reaction time to form a Mg/Al-diamondoid intercalated layered double hydroxide. The Mg/Al-diamondoid intercalated layered double hydroxide is thermally decomposed under a reducing atmosphere for a decomposition time at a decomposition temperature to form the layered metal nanocomposite.

A method of forming an abrasive nickel-based alloy on a turbine blade tip includes producing or obtaining a metal powder that is mixed with a carbon powder to form a carbon-enriched metal powder. The metal powder includes a refractory element. The method further includes bonding the carbon-enriched metal powder to the turbine blade tip. The step of bonding includes raising the temperature of the carbon-enriched metal powder past its melting point, thereby causing the carbon to combine with the refractory elements to form abrasive carbide particles.

Some variations provide a system for producing a functionalized powder, comprising: an agitated pressure vessel; first particles and second particles contained within the agitated pressure vessel; a fluid contained within the agitated pressure vessel; an exhaust line for releasing the fluid from the agitated pressure vessel; and a means for recovering a functionalized powder containing the second particles disposed onto surfaces of the first particles. A preferred fluid is carbon dioxide in liquefied or supercritical form. The carbon dioxide may be initially loaded into the pressure vessel as solid carbon dioxide. The pressure vessel may be batch or continuous and is operated under reaction conditions to functionalize the first particles with the second particles, thereby producing a functionalized powder, such as nanofunctionalized metal particles in which nanoparticles act as grain refiners for a component ultimately produced from the nanofunctionalized metal particles. Methods for making the functionalized powder are also disclosed.

Systems and methods include a computer-implemented method for manufacturing a binder for spraying onto tools. A binder is manufactured for binding compacts onto a tool substrate. The binder is designed to provide a coating strength on the tool substrate. The binder includes: a metal selected from iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), and nickel (Ni); an alloy including the metal selected from Fe, Co, and Ni; or a refractory alloy selected from tungsten, tantalum (Ta), molybdenum (Mo), and niobium (Nb). An ultra-high-pressure, high-temperature operation is performed on pure wurtzite boron nitride (w-BN) powder to synthesize w-BN and cubic boron nitride (c-BN) compact. A binder-compact mixture is produced by turbulently mixing the binder with the compact in a mixer within a vacuum. The binder-compact mixture is thermally sprayed onto a tool substrate to coat the tool.