This invention provides a composite material that is durable in a hot environment and easily produced. The composite material according to the invention has an overlaid part comprising high-melting-point metal in at least a part on the surface of a low-melting-point alloy member having a melting point of 1600? C. or lower. The overlaid part comprising high-melting-point metal comprises high-melting-point metal particles comprising high-melting-point metal elements having a melting point of 2400? C. or higher scattered therein, and 40% or more of the high-melting-point metal particles has a roundness of 0.7 or higher. The low-melting-point alloy member comprises one type of a low-melting-point alloy selected from among a Fe-based alloy, a Ni-based alloy, a Co-based alloy, a Ti-based alloy, a Cr-based alloy, and a high-entropy alloy and the high-melting-point metal particles comprise at least one type of high-melting-point metal element selected from among W, Ta, Mo, and Nb.

A mold construction system is presented for use in additive manufacturing of a metal object. The system comprises: at least one mold provision device controllably operable to form one or more mold regions defining one or more respective object regions in a production layer, and configured to receive molten metal deposited to each object region; and a control system operating said at least one mold provision device in accordance with a predetermined building plan. The mold provision device is controllably operable, in accordance with said predetermined building plan, to create each mold region, in each production layer, with one or more metal-facing zones and one or more metal-nonadjacent zones around the metal-facing zone. Each metal-facing zone is configured to define a cavity forming the object region to receive the molten metal therein, and is configured with higher compressibility relatively to at least a sub-zone of the metal-nonadjacent zone.

The invention relates to a casting mould for producing helical cast bodies (1), in particular coils, springs or spirals, having a mould (10) in the form of a permanent mould which determines the outer contour of the helical body and consists of a ceramic material or is coated by a ceramic material; a supporting tool (8), which supports the mould (10) from outside; and a mould core (12), which defines the continuous opening within the helical body (1) and consists of a ceramic material or is coated by a ceramic material, the mould core being formed in particular as a core puller.

A silicon nitride powder to be used in a slurry for forming a mold release layer of a polycrystalline silicon casting mold, wherein the specific surface area thereof is 5-50 m.sup.2/g, the proportion of amorphous silicon nitride is 1.0-25.0 mass %, and the oxygen content is 0.6-2.5 mass %. A silicon nitride powder slurry for use in mold release material and capable of forming, on a polycrystalline silicon casting mold, a mold release layer which exhibits favorable mold release properties and exhibits favorable adhesion to the casting mold after casting the polycrystalline silicon ingot, and a method for producing the same. A silicon nitride powder for mold release material, a silicon nitride powder for a slurry use for obtaining the silicon nitride powder slurry for use in the mold release material, and a method for producing the same. A polycrystalline silicon casting mold which exhibits favorable mold release properties of a polycrystalline silicon ingot; and method for producing the same.

A casting core assembly comprising: a first ceramic piece including a projecting post; a second ceramic piece including a socket encircling the post; and a ceramic filler material between the post and the socket, wherein at least one of: in axial section at at least one location the post has: a lateral protrusion of at least 15 micrometers relative to a location proximal thereof; and in axial section at at least one location socket has: a lateral recess of at least 15 micrometers relative to a location outboard thereof.

A powder useful for making a mold utilized for shaping glass-based materials includes at least about 50% by weight nickel. Metal oxides that are not miscible with nickel may be dispersed within the powder in an amount in a range from about 0.2 to about 15% by volume. A mold made from the powder may have a mold body having a composition comprising at least 50% by weight nickel and a metal oxide that is not miscible with nickel in an amount in a range from about 0.2 to about 15% by volume, a nickel oxide layer on a surface of the mold body wherein the nickel oxide layer has first and second opposing surfaces, the first surface of the nickel oxide layer contacts and faces the surface of the mold body, the second surface of the nickel oxide layer includes a plurality of grains, and the plurality of grains has an average grain size of about 100 m or less.

Processes are provided that include providing a copper-manganese alloy containing copper and manganese and having an amount of manganese that is at least 32 weight percent and not more than 40 weight percent of a combined total amount of the copper and manganese in the copper-manganese alloy, and casting the copper-manganese alloy by multidirectional solidification to produce a product in the form of a casting. The copper-manganese alloy has a composition sufficiently near the congruent melting point of the CuMn alloy system to sufficiently avoid dendritic growth during the multidirectional solidification of the copper-manganese alloy to avoid the formation of microporosity attributable to dendritic growth. The product has a cast microstructure having a cellular and/or planar solidification structure free of dendritic growth and having multidirectional columnar grains.

A surface treatment method on a base material coated a surface with a carbon film includes: supplying at least any one of titanium, zirconium, niobium, vanadium, hafnium, tantalum, and tungsten to the carbon film; and heating the carbon film to 400 C. or more under an inert atmosphere, thereby forming a coating film on the base material.

A method of working an additively manufactured part includes applying a layer of wax to a part manufactured with an additive manufacturing process. Then a mold is formed over the layer of wax on the part. The wax is then removed from between the mold and the part. The part is then melted in the mold, and then the part is re-solidified in the mold. Finally, the mold is removed.

A method of optimizing strength in an improved mold for a cast component. The method may include the steps of evaluating a flaw in an existing mold, adding external reinforcement features to a design of the improved mold, manufacturing the improved mold in an additive manufacturing process, and casting the cast component in the