A method of fabricating and apparatus for additive manufacturing including an environmental chamber defining an interior, a platform on which the object is built in a powder bed within the interior of the environmental chamber, a supply of nitrogen coupled to the interior of the environmental chamber, a laser creating an ion channel extending to the powder, and a power source applying electrical energy to the ion channel, the electrical energy being transmitted through the ion channel to the powder in the powder bed.

A method for the manufacture of a three-dimensional object using a refractory matrix material is provided. The method includes the additive manufacture of a green body from a powder-based refractory matrix material followed by densification via chemical vapor infiltration (CVI). The refractory matrix material can be a refractory ceramic (e.g., silicon carbide, zirconium carbide, or graphite) or a refractory metal (e.g., molybdenum or tungsten). In one embodiment, the matrix material is deposited according to a binder-jet printing process to produce a green body having a complex geometry. The CVI process increases its density, provides a hermetic seal, and yields an object with mechanical integrity. The residual binder content dissociates and is removed from the green body prior to the start of the CVI process as temperatures increase in the CVI reactor. The CVI process selective deposits a fully dense coating on all internal and external surfaces of the finished object.

A thixomolding material includes: a metal body that contains Mg as a main component; and a coating portion that is adhered to a surface of the metal body via a binder and contains SiC particles containing SiC as a main component. A mass fraction of the SiC particles in a total mass of the metal body and the SiC particles is 2.0 mass % or more and 40.0 mass % or less. The binder may contain waxes. A content of the binder may be 0.001 mass % or more and 0.200 mass % or less.

A sintered friction material is formed by pressure sintering mixed powder at 800 C. or above, the mixed powder consisting of, in mass %, Cu and/or Cu alloy: 40.0 to 80.0%, Ni: 0% or more and less than 5.0%, Sn: 0 to 10.0%, Zn: 0 to 10.0%, VC: 0.5 to 5.0%, Fe and/or Fe alloy: 2.0 to 40.0%, lubricant: 5.0 to 30.0%, metal oxide and/or metal nitride: 1.5 to 30.0%, and the balance being impurity.

A metal member related to the present invention is provided with crystal grains of a metal and a granular reinforcing substance formed at boundaries of the crystal grains. The reinforcing substance includes grains of a shape with a grain area equivalent grain size larger than 1/100 of a grain area equivalent grain size of the crystal grains. The granular reinforcing substance preferably includes grains with a grain area equivalent grain size smaller than of the grain area equivalent grain size of the crystal grains. Additionally, the granular reinforcing substance preferably includes grains of a shape wherein a value of a length, in a first direction in which a length thereof is longest, divided by a length of a longest part in a direction orthogonal to the first direction is smaller than 5. A metal member with a high strength at high temperatures is manufactured by metal powder injection molding.

A thixomolding material includes: a metal body that contains Mg as a main component; and a coating portion that is adhered to a surface of the metal body via a binder and contains SiC particles containing SiC as a main component. A mass fraction of the SiC particles in a total mass of the metal body and the SiC particles is 2.0 mass % or more and 40.0 mass % or less. The binder may contain waxes. A content of the binder may be 0.001 mass % or more and 0.200 mass % or less.

Methods of pressure assisted melt infiltration of fiber preforms are provided. The fiber preform is provided inside of a pressure vessel. The pressure vessel projects into a molten material contained in a crucible. The pressure vessel has an opening located below a surface of the molten material through which the molten material enters the pressure vessel. An end of the fiber preform contacts the molten material within the pressure vessel. The pressure vessel and crucible are located in a furnace. The molten material is pulled within the pressure vessel by increasing a first pressure at a first port of the furnace so the first pressure is higher than a second pressure at a second port of the pressure vessel. The second port is located above the molten material located within the pressure vessel. The fiber preform is infiltrated with the molten material.

A method for the manufacture of a three-dimensional object using a refractory matrix material is provided. The method includes the additive manufacture of a green body from a powder-based refractory matrix material followed by densification via chemical vapor infiltration (CVI). The refractory matrix material can be a refractory ceramic (e.g., silicon carbide, zirconium carbide, or graphite) or a refractory metal (e.g., molybdenum or tungsten). In one embodiment, the matrix material is deposited according to a binder-jet printing process to produce a green body having a complex geometry. The CVI process increases its density, provides a hermetic seal, and yields an object with mechanical integrity. The residual binder content dissociates and is removed from the green body prior to the start of the CVI process as temperatures increase in the CVI reactor. The CVI process selective deposits a fully dense coating on all internal and external surfaces of the finished object.

Methods for producing aluminum metal matrix composite feedstocks are disclosed. A method in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure may comprise heating a metal into a liquid, spraying the liquid through a nozzle to produce droplets, directing a stream of ceramic particles to contact the droplets to form a compound material, the compound material comprising the droplets and the ceramic particles, and obtaining a powder from the droplets.

A thermal spray material feedstock is provided for flash-carbide coatings. Flash carbide coatings are thin, dense, and smooth thermal spray coatings that self-activate the substrate. Flash-carbide coatings form and peen the coating to impart compressive stress for good adhesion and corrosion resistance. To achieve this combination of properties and performance, a powder that includes fine, dense, and angular particles is used; however, this powder alone results in a poor deposition efficiency of typically less than 20%. The present disclosure mitigates the poor deposition efficiency of this powder alone by providing a composition having two or more different particles at a specific ratio to improve deposition efficiency with sufficient optimized stress and corrosion properties and, in some cases, an increase in coating performance.