A method for forming a contact piece for a circuit breaker, the contact piece comprising a reinforcement phase and a conductive phase, the method comprising: providing a slurry of the reinforcement phase in liquid; freeze casting the slurry, to form a cast comprising a frozen liquid structure and a reinforcement phase structure; removing the frozen liquid structure from the cast, to form a foam comprising the reinforcement phase structure; sintering the foam, to form a sintered foam; and infiltrating the sintered foam with the conductive phase, to form a piece part.

In an embodiment, the present disclosure pertains to a method of making a composite. In some embodiments, the method includes applying an external magnetic field to a mixture composed of a plurality of magnetic materials in a container, in which the external magnetic field produces a homogenous and uniform magnetic flux in the container. In some embodiments, the method further includes solidifying the mixture to result in the growth of solvent crystals in the mixture, and subliming a solvent phase of the mixture in the container to thereby form a composite having uniformly aligned magnetic materials. In an additional embodiment, the present disclosure pertains to a composite having uniformly aligned magnetic materials. In some embodiments, a majority of the magnetic materials in the composite are aligned in the same direction.

This disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatus related to freeze casting. In one aspect, a method comprises providing an apparatus. The apparatus comprises a container and a cooling surface. A bottom of the container comprises a wedge. The wedge comprises a first substantially planar surface and a second substantially planar surface with an angle between the first and the second substantially planar surfaces. An interior bottom of the container comprises the second substantially planar surface. The cooling surface is in contact with the first substantially planar surface. A slurry is deposited on the second substantially planar surface, the slurry comprising a plurality of particles in a liquid. The cooling surface is cooled to cool the slurry at a specified cooling rate.

A three-dimensional metallic foam is fabricated with an active oxide material for use as an anode for lithium batteries. The porous metal foam, which can be fabricated by a freeze-casting process, is used as the anode current collector of the lithium battery. The porous metal foam can be heat-treated to form an active oxide material to form on the surface of the metal foam. The oxide material acts as the three-dimensional active material that reacts with lithium ions during charging and discharging.

An electrode for the use of an advanced lithium battery is fabricated using three-dimensionally structured metal foam coated with an active material. The metal foam is porous metal foam that can be used as an anode current collector of a lithium-ion battery and is coated with an anode active material, such as tin, through a sonication-assisted electroless plating method. Additionally, the coated metal foam is heat-treated at an appropriate temperature in order to improve the integrity of the coating layer and hence, the cyclic performance of the lithium-ion battery.

An electrode for the use of an advanced lithium battery is fabricated using three-dimensionally structured metal foam coated with an active material. The metal foam is porous metal foam that can be used as an anode current collector of a lithium-ion battery and is coated with an anode active material, such as tin, through a sonication-assisted electroless plating method. Additionally, the coated metal foam is heat-treated at an appropriate temperature in order to improve the integrity of the coating layer and hence, the cyclic performance of the lithium-ion battery.

A metal foam ball, several millimeters in diameter, is manufactured to have an open-pore structure to absorb fluid (e.g., gas and liquid) such as water or lubricant. As an example, a copper foam ball is manufactured via a freeze casting method using prepared oxide powder slurry where a spherical silica gel mold is used to freeze the slurry, which is subsequently dried at low temperature in vacuum and then sintered at high temperature. For improved oxidation, copper alloy foam ball or copper foam ball coated with tin can also be manufactured through the same method. For improved strength, steel, copper-nickel alloy, or titanium foam ball can also be manufactured through the same method.

This invention in one aspect relates to an iron-based foam usable for an electrochemical device, comprising a composition comprising iron and a refractory element processed to form the iron-based foam having a hierarchical porous structure with self-assembled channels for gas flow reactions and internal space to accommodate volumetric changes on oxidation.

This invention in one aspect relates to an iron-based foam usable for an electrochemical device, comprising a composition comprising iron and a refractory element processed to form the iron-based foam having a hierarchical porous structure with self-assembled channels for gas flow reactions and internal space to accommodate volumetric changes on oxidation.

A metal foam ball, several millimeters in diameter, is manufactured to have an open-pore structure to absorb fluid (e.g., gas and liquid) such as water or lubricant. As an example, a copper foam ball is manufactured via a freeze casting method using prepared oxide powder slurry where a spherical silica gel mold is used to freeze the slurry, which is subsequently dried at low temperature in vacuum and then sintered at high temperature. For improved oxidation, copper alloy foam ball or copper foam ball coated with tin can also be manufactured through the same method. For improved strength, steel, copper-nickel alloy, or titanium foam ball can also be manufactured through the same method.