An implant is produced by fabricating first and second layers. The first layer of repeated and truncated building units is fused together to define pores. The second layer of repeated and truncated building units are fused together to define pores and fused onto the first layer of truncated building units. The first and the second layers form at least part of a porous portion of the implant. The formed porous portion is attached onto a base portion of an implant. The truncated building units of each of the first and the second layers are in the form of spatially overlapping three-dimensional shapes.

A method for producing metal-based micro-porous structures includes continuously feeding a solid green part and a gas flow into a tunnel reactor having an aspect ratio greater than 2, wherein the solid green part has a characteristic diffusion mass transfer dimension less than 1 mm and a gas in the gas flow is substantially free of oxidants, and chemically reacting the gas in the gas flow and the green part under a predetermined temperature profile along a length of the tunnel reactor for a sufficient time to convert the green part into a solid product having pore sizes in a range of 0.3 nm to 5 μm.

A method for preparing a metal foam is provided which can freely control characteristics, such as pore size and porosity, of the metal foam, prepare the metal foam in the form of films or sheets which have conventionally been difficult to produce, particularly the form of thin films or sheets as well, and prepare a metal foam having excellent other physical properties such as mechanical strength. It is also possible to efficiently form a structure in which the metal foams as above are integrated with good adhesive force on a metal base material.

An apparatus and process are presented for continuous production of metal-based micro-porous structures of pore sizes from 0.3 nm to 5.0 μm from a green part of characteristic diffusion mass transfer dimension less than 1 mm through chemical reactions in a continuous flow of gas substantially free of oxygen. The produced micro-porous structures include i) thin porous metal sheets of thickness less than 200 μm and pore sizes in the range of 0.1 to 5.0 μm, ii) porous ceramic coating of thickness less than 40 μm and ceramic particle sizes of 200 nm or less on a porous metal-based support structures of pore sizes in the range of 0.1 to 5 μm.

A preparation method for a W—Cu composite plate with a Cu phase in finger-shaped gradient distribution is provided. The method includes adding WO.sub.X powder obtained with ammonium metatungstate as a raw material into W powder through a combustion synthesis method, adding a binder and a pore-forming agent to prepare a slurry, then performing tape casting, soaking in water and sintering to obtain a W framework with pores in finger-shaped distribution, and then infiltrating Cu to obtain a target product. The Cu phase in the W—Cu composite material prepared by the present method is distributed in a finger-shaped gradient manner from an infiltration surface to the interior of a specimen, the Cu phase and the W phase are mutually pinned, and the W—Cu interface has good bonding strength. The present method has the characteristics of adjustable material component performance, simple process, low cost, suitability for large-scale production and the like.

The present invention relates to a foam material comprising:—a structural matrix (1),—at least one guest phase (2), and—a fluid, the material being characterised in that the structural matrix (1) comprises a plurality of interconnected pores (3), the one or more guest phases (2) are accommodated inside at least one pore (3) of the structural matrix (1) and the fluid is accommodated inside the pores (3). The present invention further relates to the process for preparing the foam material according to the present invention and to the various uses of the foam material according to the present invention.

Forming a porous multilayer material includes forming a multilayer material on a substrate. Forming the multilayer material includes alternately forming a sacrificial layer and a semi-sacrificial layer, where the sacrificial layer includes a first metal and the semi-sacrificial layer includes the first metal and a second metal or metallic alloy. Forming the porous multilayer material further includes removing at least a portion of the first metal from each of the sacrificial and semi-sacrificial layers to yield the porous multilayer material. The porous multilayer material includes a multiplicity of metal-containing layers, each layer having a thickness in a range between about 5 nm and about 100 nm and bonded to an adjacent layer. Each layer includes chromium, niobium, tantalum, vanadium, molybdenum, tungsten, or a combination thereof. A void is defined between each pair of layers, and a density of porous the multilayer material is <1% bulk density.

A heat exchanger, including a heat exchanger tube for guiding a first medium in its interior, and also at least one connection for a second medium, wherein the region around the heat exchanger tube is provided by an open-pored, in particular solid, material, preferably a body of such a material, into which the second medium in particular can enter.

Processes for tailoring the macroscopic shape, metallic composition, mechanical properties, and pore structure of nanoporous metal foams prepared through combustion synthesis via direct write 3D printing of metal energetic ligand precursor inks made with water and an organic thickening agent are disclosed. Such processes enable production of never before obtainable metal structures with hierarchical porosity, tailorable from the millimeter size regime to the nanometer size regime. Structures produced by these processes have numerous applications including, but not limited to, catalysts, heat exchangers, low density structural materials, biomedical implants, hydrogen storage medium, fuel cells, and batteries.

Processes for tailoring the macroscopic shape, metallic composition, mechanical properties, and pore structure of nanoporous metal foams prepared through combustion synthesis via direct write 3D printing of metal energetic ligand precursor inks made with water and an organic thickening agent are disclosed. Such processes enable production of never before obtainable metal structures with hierarchical porosity, tailorable from the millimeter size regime to the nanometer size regime. Structures produced by these processes have numerous applications including, but not limited to, catalysts, heat exchangers, low density structural materials, biomedical implants, hydrogen storage medium, fuel cells, and batteries.