In one aspect, a method for fabricating metal particles is disclosed, which includes adding a plurality of metallic elements into a plasma reactor comprising a circulating fluid and two electrodes, evaporating the metallic elements to form metal vapor using plasma generated by at least one electric discharge pulse between the electrodes; and condensing the metal vapor to form metal particles. In some embodiments, the metal particles comprise metal oxide particles. In some embodiments, the metal particles are useful as part of pharmaceutical compositions or dietary supplements.

A friction stir processing (FSP) tool includes a working material. The working material has a matrix phase and a particulate phase. The matrix phase includes tungsten and an alloy material. The particulate phase is located within the matrix phase, and the particulate phase has an indentation hardness less than 45 GPa.

Disclosed herein are embodiments of a powder feedstock, such as for bulk welding, which can produce welds. The powder feedstock can include high levels of boron, and may be improved over previously used cored wires. Coatings can be formed from the powder feedstock which may have high hardness in certain embodiments, and low mass loss under ASTM standards.

Embodiments described herein relate to methods and systems for controlling the packing behavior of powders for additive manufacturing applications. In some embodiments, a method for additive manufacturing includes adding a packing modifier to a base powder to form a build material. The build material may be spread to form a layer across a powder bed, and the build material may be selectively joined along a two-dimensional pattern associated with the layer. The steps of spreading a layer of build material and selectively joining the build material in the layer may be repeated to form a three-dimensional object. The packing modifier may be selected to enhance one or more powder packing and/or powder flow characteristics of the base powder to provide for improved uniformity of the additive manufacturing process, promote sintering, and/or to enhance the properties of the manufactured three-dimensional objects.

The present invention provides a method for preparing an in-situ ternary nanoparticle-reinforced aluminum matrix composite (AMC). In this method, an in-situ reaction generation technique is used, and with a powder containing formation elements for producing reinforcing particles as a reactant, in conjunction with a low-frequency rotating magnetic field/ultrasonic field regulation technique, an aluminum-based composite material is prepared using nanoparticle intermediate alloy re-melting. An AA6016-based composite material reinforced by ternary nanoparticles has an average particle size of 65 nm, and has an obvious refinement phenomenon compared with unitary and dual-phase nanoparticles.

A ball bearing has an outer circumferential surface of an inner ring subjected to a surface treatment by laser cladding in a circumferential direction, forming an annular first build-up layer with which a plurality of balls 4 is brought into contact so that the balls are rolled in the circumferential direction (first build-up layer formation step). An inner circumferential surface of an outer ring is subjected to a surface treatment by laser cladding in a circumferential direction, thereby forming an annular second build-up layer with which the plurality of balls contacts so that the balls can be rolled in the circumferential direction (second build-up layer formation step).

A DC motor is provided that can suppress a commutator from wearing. A DC motor including a commutator formed of copper or a copper alloy of 99% or more copper, and a brush pressed against and in contact with the commutator, wherein the brush is composed of a sintered compact including graphite and copper powder, hard compound particles higher in hardness than any of the copper or the copper alloy and the graphite or the copper powder are contained in at least one of the commutator and the brush and are scattered on or near a contact surface of the commutator with the brush at least during use.

This application relates to a method of preparing a composite material for a semiconductor test socket, and a composite material prepared through the method. In one embodiment, the method includes preparing a powder mixture including (i) a metal powder comprising aluminum or aluminum alloy particles and magnesium particles and (ii) a polymer powder. The method may also include sintering the powder mixture to produce the composite material using a spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. This application also relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor test socket, the method including forming an insulating portion of the semiconductor test socket with the composite material. This application further relates to a semiconductor test socket produced through the method.

Copper nanoparticle paste compositions may be formulated for forming connections that are capable of operating at high temperatures by including a grain growth inhibitor with copper nanoparticles in a suitable amount. Such nanoparticle paste compositions may comprise copper nanoparticles and 0.01-15 wt. % of a grain growth inhibitor or a precursor to a grain growth inhibitor admixed with the copper nanoparticles, in which the grain growth inhibitor comprises a metal. The grain growth inhibitor is insoluble in a bulk copper matrix and is capable of residing at one or more grain boundaries in the bulk copper matrix. The one or more grain boundaries may be formed after the copper nanoparticles undergo consolidation to form bulk copper. The grain growth inhibitor may comprise various metals that are insoluble in bulk copper.

A nickel-based alloy powder for additive manufacturing having in weight %:C:0.09 to 0.17, Ti:3.8 to 4.5, Zr:>0.06, W:1.8 to 2.6, and Al:3.0 to 3.8 is disclosed.