Provided is a method for manufacturing a micropore filter usable as SCE. Stainless steel particles having particle diameters of 3 to 60 ?m are subjected to milling in a bead mill using zirconia beads to prepare powder having a flakiness of 0.03 to 0.4. The zirconia adhered to the surface of the powder is removed by pickling. A load of 10 to 15 kN is applied to 0.5 to 1.0 g of the pickled powder, thereby compacting the powder into a columnar compact body. The compact body is kept and fired in a vacuum atmosphere of 10.sup.?5 to 10.sup.?3 Pa at a temperature of 1000 to 1300? C. for 1 to 3 hours to form a sintered body. The sintered body is pressed into a pipe having an inner diameter of 0.90 to 0.99 times of the outer diameter of the sintered body, and extruded to obtain a micropore filter.

A method for manufacturing a discharge surface treatment electrode includes: a first laying of laying powder particles to form a first powder layer; and a first binding of binding some of the powder particles in the first powder layer to each other. The method further includes: a second laying of further laying the powder particles on the first powder layer in which some of the powder particles are bound to each other to form a second powder layer; and a second binding of binding some of the powder particles in the second powder layer to each other to form a stacked body of granulated particles. A region having a different porosity from another region is formed inside the stacked body.

A method of manufacturing a porous part includes controlled freeze casting of a slurry. After freezing, a solvent in the slurry is removed by sublimation and the remaining material is sintered to form the porous part. Spatial and temporal control of thermal conditions at the boundary and inside of the mold can be controlled to create parts with controlled porosity, including size, distribution, and directionality of the pores. Porous parts with near-net-shape from ceramics, metals, polymers and other materials and their combinations can be created.

A gas permeable metal with a porosity gradient and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. A second lamination layer and a third lamination layer are respectively connected to two opposite sides of a first lamination layer. A pore diameter of the first lamination layer is larger than that of the second lamination layer. Thereby while being applied to molds, a mold cavity is mounted in the second lamination layer with smaller pore diameter so that products formed have fine and smooth surfaces. The arrangement of the first lamination layer with larger pore diameter is used for effective escape of gas generated during product production process. According to production requirements for products, a pore diameter of the third lamination layer can be adjusted to be not larger than that of the first lamination layer. Thus mechanical strength and gas exhaust capacity can be balanced.

A gas permeable metal with a porosity gradient and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. A second lamination layer and a third lamination layer are respectively connected to two opposite sides of a first lamination layer. A pore diameter of the first lamination layer is larger than that of the second lamination layer. Thereby while being applied to molds, a mold cavity is mounted in the second lamination layer with smaller pore diameter so that products formed have fine and smooth surfaces. The arrangement of the first lamination layer with larger pore diameter is used for effective escape of gas generated during product production process. According to production requirements for products, a pore diameter of the third lamination layer can be adjusted to be not larger than that of the first lamination layer. Thus mechanical strength and gas exhaust capacity can be balanced.

A method for forming an article includes providing a material having a first material property; forming a melt pool by exposing the material to an optical beam having at least one beam characteristic, wherein the melt pool has at least one melt pool property determinative of a second material property of the material; and modifying the at least one beam characteristic in response to a change in the melt pool property.

A method of processing by controlling one or more beam characteristics of an optical beam may include: launching the optical beam into a first length of fiber having a first refractive-index profile (RIP); coupling the optical beam from the first length of fiber into a second length of fiber having a second RIP and one or more confinement regions; modifying the one or more beam characteristics of the optical beam in the first length of fiber, in the second length of fiber, or in the first and second lengths of fiber; confining the modified one or more beam characteristics of the optical beam within the one or more confinement regions of the second length of fiber; and/or generating an output beam, having the modified one or more beam characteristics of the optical beam, from the second length of fiber. The first RIP may differ from the second RIP.

The surface of a substrate of a first material is modified by depositing a layer of a solvent paste comprising nanoparticles of a second material that have a size that provides a melting point at a lower temperature than the melting point temperature of the bulk second material, and nanoparticles of a third material that have a size at least as large as the nanoparticle size of the second material and a melting point at a temperature higher than the melting point temperature of the second material. Nanoparticles of the second material have a higher weight percentage than nanoparticles of the third material. The nanoparticles of the second material are sintered together at the melting point temperature of the second material. Voids are created in the layer of second material by removing the nanoparticles of the third material The voids have random distribution and random three-dimensional configurations.

Disclosed herein are methods, apparatus, and systems for providing an optical beam delivery device, comprising a first length of fiber comprising a first RIP formed to enable modification of one or more beam characteristics of an optical beam by a perturbation device and a second length of fiber having a second RIP coupled to the first length of fiber, the second RIP formed to confine at least a portion of the modified beam characteristics of the optical beam within one or more confinement regions.

Disclosed herein are methods, apparatus, and systems for perturbing an optical beam propagating within a first length of fiber to adjust one or more beam characteristics of the optical beam in the first length of fiber or a second length of fiber or a combination thereof, coupling the perturbed optical beam into a second length of fiber and maintaining at least a portion of one or more adjusted beam characteristics within a second length of fiber having.