A body armor for protecting a part of body against a projectile, the body armor comprising an outer surface, an inner surface, and a plurality of cavities. The inner surface is shaped to fit over the protected body part, and the cavities reduce the armor weight. Additionally the cavities profile can help in stopping projectiles.

Systems and methods are disclosed for fabricating a metal or ceramic component using a 3D printer. An entire 3D printed piece, including both the metal or ceramic component and one or more support structures, is created of a first metal or ceramic material. A sensitization layer is applied to all or part of the 3D printed piece to chemically alter portions of the first metal or ceramic material near the surface making those portions of the material more sensitive to the etching process. The etching process causes the affected material to deplete and separates the component from the support structures without requiring mechanical machining.

Systems and methods are disclosed for fabricating a metal or ceramic component using a 3D printer. An entire 3D printed piece, including both the metal or ceramic component and one or more support structures, is created of a first metal or ceramic material. A sensitization layer is applied to all or part of the 3D printed piece to chemically alter portions of the first metal or ceramic material near the surface making those portions of the material more sensitive to the etching process. The etching process causes the affected material to deplete and separates the component from the support structures without requiring mechanical machining.

Systems and methods are disclosed for fabricating a metal or ceramic component using a 3D printer. An entire 3D printed piece, including both the metal or ceramic component and one or more support structures, is created of a first metal or ceramic material. A sensitization layer is applied to all or part of the 3D printed piece to chemically alter portions of the first metal or ceramic material near the surface making those portions of the material more sensitive to the etching process. The etching process causes the affected material to deplete and separates the component from the support structures without requiring mechanical machining.

The present invention is a system and method for electroplating and etching, which provides a solution to the problem of smoothing rough exterior features of a 3D printed or otherwise roughly manufactured object with rough exterior features. The core components of the invention are an acid bath with a first electrode and a target object as a second electrode which are in the acid bath. The first electrode and the target object are connected to a power source that causes a current to run in a first direction to etch the target object and in a second direction to plate on the target object. The amount of different metals dissolved in the acid solution will affect the composition of plated material on the target object.

A metallic laminate shaped flow path member has both a surface roughness of a flow path inner surface and corrosion resistance at such a level as to be utilizable as a flow path member for use in a supply line for a corrosive fluid in a semiconductor device manufacturing apparatus. A metallic substrate constituting the metallic laminate shaped flow path member has surface irregularities, the inner surface of the flow path of the metallic laminate shaped flow path member is formed with a glass coating layer in such a manner as to fill at least recessed regions of the surface irregularities of the metallic substrate, and the glass coating layer includes at least one of a layer of a P.sub.2O.sub.5—ZnO—Al.sub.2O.sub.3 based glass, a layer of a Bi.sub.2O.sub.3—ZnO—B.sub.2O.sub.3 based glass, and a layer of an SiO.sub.2—B.sub.2O.sub.3—Na.sub.2O based glass.

A method of fabricating a near net shape component includes forming a sacrificial shell from a pulverant material using an additive manufacturing process, the shell having an aperture. The method further includes filling the shell with a second pulverant material, subjecting the filled shell to a consolidation process, and removing the shell from the consolidated second pulverant material.

There is provided a cobalt-based alloy product comprising: in mass %, 0.08-0.25% C; 0.1% or less B; 10-30% Cr; 5% or less Fe and 30% or less Ni, the total amount of Fe and Ni being 30% or less; W and/or Mo, the total amount of W and Mo being 5-12%; 0.5% or less Si; 0.5% or less Mn; 0.003-0.04% N; 0.5 to 2 mass % of an M component being a transition metal other than W and Mo and having an atomic radius of more than 130 pm; and the balance being Co and impurities. The impurities include 0.5% or less Al and 0.04% or less O. The product is a polycrystalline body of matrix phase crystal grains. In the matrix phase crystal grains, segregation cells with an average size of 0.13-2 μm are formed, in which the M component is segregated in boundary regions of the segregation cells.

Apparatuses and methods for removing support material from and/or smoothing surfaces of an additive-manufactured part are disclosed. Apparatuses may include a spraying chamber, a support surface within the spraying chamber, and one or more nozzles having the ability to spray a fluid at the additive-manufactured parts. The fluid may include a liquid and solid particles carried by the liquid. The support surface may have the ability to support the additive manufactured part. The apparatus may include a tank having the ability to hold at least some of the fluid. A heater may be included for heating the fluid to a desired temperature.

A hybrid method of surface hardening metallic components using a combination of chemical modification achieved through additive manufacturing and/or diffusion-based processing with transformation-based processing using a high energy density heat source. The hybrid process results in increased surface hardness and/or increased average case hardness and/or increased case depth compared to either treatment individually.