A method of fabricating a metal cellular structure includes providing a sol-gel that is a colloid dispersed in a solvent, the colloid including metal-containing regions bound together by polymeric ligands, removing the solvent from the gel using supercritical drying to produce a dry gel of the metal-containing regions bound together by the polymeric ligands, and thermally converting the dry gel to a cellular structure with a coating in at least one step using phase separation of at least two insoluble elements. Also disclosed is a metal cellular structure including interconnected metal ligaments having a cellular structure and a carbon-containing coating around the metal ligaments.

The present invention relates to a new silver-based electrical contact material, in which silver is in a continuous phase and carbon being in a nano-dispersed phase is dispersed in continuous phase silver. The content of the dispersed phase carbon in the silver-based electrical contact material can be 0.02% to 5% by weight, on the basis of the total weight of the silver-based electrical contact material. According to the present invention, the carbon contains carbon in a diamond form. Such a silver-based electrical contact material shows excellent mechanical wear resistance and electrical performance.

A fastener configured for an electrical power distribution application is disclosed. The fastener includes an aluminum (Al) metal matrix composite (MMC) comprising nanoscale carbon particles in a concentration of 0.01 to 2 percent by weight (wt %). The nanoscale carbon particles are evenly distributed throughout an entirety of the MMC. The fastener is useful for connecting conductors such as busbars, wires, or cables. Also disclosed is a method for fabricating the aluminum MMC fastener comprising a solid-state deformation process.

Disclosed are electrical contact materials and a method for preparing the same. The electrical contact material includes (i) one or more kinds of metals selected from the group consisting of silver (Ag), copper (Cu) and gold (Au), and an alloy of nickel (Ni); and (ii) carbon nano tubes (CNTs) coated with Ag nanoparticles, Ag plated CNTs, or Ag nanowires, or (i) one or more kinds of metals selected from the group consisting of Ag, Cu, Ni and Au; (ii) a metal oxide that is cadmium oxide, indium oxide, tin oxide, zinc oxide or mixture thereof; and (iii) CNTs coated with Ag nanoparticles, Ag plated CNTs, or Ag nanowires. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the content of high-priced Ag and to obtain excellent electrical and mechanical properties.

A nanocomposite comprising metal and carbon-based nanotube (CNT), wherein the carbon-based nanotube comprises a doping element selected from the group consisting of boron (B), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni), cadmium (Cd), tin (Sn), antimony (Sb), Nitrogen (N) and the combination thereof, and methods of making the nanocomposite.

Provided is a sputtering target for a magnetic recording film. The sputtering target has a peak intensity ratio (I.sub.G/I.sub.D) of a G-band to a D-band of 5.0 or more in Raman scattering spectrometry. It is an object of the present invention to produce a magnetic thin film having a granular structure without using a high cost co-sputtering apparatus and to provide a sputtering target, in particular, an FePt-based sputtering target for a magnetic recording film, where carbon particles are dispersed in the target. Since carbon is a material which is not susceptible to being sintered and is susceptible to form aggregates, a conventional carbon-containing sputtering target has the problem that detachment of carbon lumps occurs during sputtering to result in generation of a large number of particles on the film. The present invention also addresses the problem of providing a high density sputtering target that can overcome the disadvantages.

Provided is a thixomolding material including 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 C particles containing C as a main component. A mass fraction of the C particles in a total mass of the metal body and the C particles is 5.0 mass % or more and 40.0 mass % or less. The binder may contain waxes. The C particles may be graphite particles.

This disclosure relates in general to three dimensional (3D) printers having a configuration that prepares a three-dimensional object by using a feedstock comprising a metal or a polymer compound and a carbon coating formed on a surface of the compound. This disclosure also relates to such feedstocks and their preparation methods. This disclosure further relates to 3D composite objects prepared by using such printers and feedstocks. This disclosure also relates to carbon containing photocurable formulations and methods for their preparation. This disclosure further relates to electrically conducting 3D polymer composites prepared by using such carbon containing photocurable formulations.

A nanocarbon material includes agglomerate nanostructures made of aggregates of: (i) graphene nanostructures having at least partially crumpled morphology, and (ii) clusters of at least one carbon material. The carbon material may have a graphitic structure. At least a portion of the graphitic structure may be at least partially hollow and have at least one winged protrusion. Optionally, the nanocarbon material may be part of a composition that includes a dispersion medium or a cementitious material. Methods of making such a composition are also disclosed.

A monolithic carbon foam formed of fused onion-like carbon (OLC) nanoparticles, in which the monolithic carbon foam contains interconnected pores, has a volumetric micropore surface area of 200 m.sup.2/cc-600 m.sup.2/cc, and has an electrical conductivity of 20 cm-140 S/cm. Also disclosed are a fractal carbon foam prepared from the monolithic carbon foam, methods of preparing both foams, and supercapacitors constructed therefrom. Specifically, the methods of preparing the foams comprising, inter alia, spark plasma sintering the OLC nanoparticles at a pressure of 30 MPa-1000 MPa and a temperature of 300 C.-800 C. for 2 seconds-30 minutes.