Disclosed are systems, devices, and methods for additive manufacturing that allow for control of composition and/or porosity of components being manufactured. More particularly, in exemplary embodiments, a secondary material can be used in conjunction with a primary feedstock material in a spatially controlled manner during an additive manufacturing process to control a composition of materials and/or porosity of a manufactured component. Systems, devices, and methods for additive manufacturing are also disclosed that allow for control of a pressure of an atmosphere surrounding a build surface during an additive manufacturing process. More particularly, a pressure of an atmosphere surrounding a build surface can be raised to a pressure greater than standard atmospheric pressure. Various features of the exemplary embodiments of the systems, devices, and methods disclosed can be used together to further control for composition and/or porosity and quality of a manufactured part.

This application relates to a method of preparing a composite material for an electric wiring connector. In one embodiment, the method includes preparing a powder mixture including (i) a metal powder composed of aluminum or aluminum alloy particles and magnesium particles and (ii) a polymer powder. The method may also include sintering the powder mixture to produce a composite material for the electric wiring connector using a spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. This application also relates to a composite material for an electric wiring connector prepared through the method described above. This application further relates to a method of manufacturing an electric wiring connector, the method including forming a housing of the electric wiring connector with the composite material. This application further relates to an electric wiring connector manufactured by the method.

An aluminum alloy additive manufacturing product and a method manufactures the same. The aluminum alloy additive manufacturing product is formed by molding a raw metal by an additive manufacturing method. The raw metal is made of an aluminum alloy. The aluminum alloy contains Fe and one or more of Mn and Cr. The Fe is an inevitable impurity of 0.3 weight % or less. The one or more of Mn and Cr have a total weight of 0.3 to 10 weight %. The aluminum alloy additive manufacturing product contains any one or more of an intermetallic compound and an aluminum alloy solid solution. The intermetallic compound contains two or more of Al, Mn, Fe, and Cr. One or more elements of Mn, Fe, and Cr are dissolved in the aluminum alloy solid solution.

An apparatus for manufacturing metal powder according to the present invention is a metal powder manufacturing apparatus, in which molten metal is broken up, and liquid droplets of the atomized molten metal are cooled by spraying cooling water using a cooling water spraying nozzle provided inside a chamber. The cooling water spraying nozzle is provided such that cooling water is sprayed in a fan shape, and cooling water spraying nozzles provided at different heights have increasing angles of inclination with respect to the inner wall of the chamber as the heights thereof are reduced, thereby decreasing a deviation between flying distances of the molten metal liquid droplets to efficiently manufacture metal powder having uniform properties.

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.

Some variations provide a metal matrix nanocomposite composition comprising metal-containing microparticles and nanoparticles, wherein the nanoparticles are chemically and/or physically disposed on surfaces of the microparticles, and wherein the nanoparticles are consolidated in a three-dimensional architecture throughout the composition. The composition may serve as an ingot for producing a metal matrix nanocomposite. Other variations provide a functionally graded metal matrix nanocomposite comprising a metal-matrix phase and a reinforcement phase containing nanoparticles, wherein the nanocomposite contains a gradient in concentration of the nanoparticles. This nanocomposite may be or be converted into a master alloy. Other variations provide methods of making a metal matrix nanocomposite, methods of making a functionally graded metal matrix nanocomposite, and methods of making a master alloy metal matrix nanocomposite. The metal matrix nanocomposite may have a cast microstructure. The methods disclosed enable various loadings of nanoparticles in metal matrix nanocomposites with a wide variety of compositions.

Aluminum alloys, fabricated by a rapid solidification process, with high strength, high ductility, high corrosion resistance, high creep resistance, and good weldability.

The present disclosure relates to a method of preparing an aluminum-containing alloy powder and an application thereof. The preparation method includes: by using the characteristic that a solidification structure of an initial alloy includes a matrix phase and a dispersed particle phase, the matrix phase is removed by reaction with an acid solution, so as to separate out the dispersed particle phase and obtain an aluminum-containing alloy powder. The preparation method is simple in process and can prepare different morphologies of aluminum-containing alloy powders of nano-level, sub-micron-level, micron-level and millimeter-level, which can be applied to the fields such as photo-electronic devices, wave absorbing materials, catalysts, 3D metal printing, metal injection molding and corrosion-resistant coating.

A method of additively manufacturing is provided. The method may include successively depositing and fusing together layers of a superalloy powder mixture comprised of a base material powder and a eutectic powder, to build up an additive portion, which eutectic powder has a solidus temperature lower than the solidus temperature of the base material powder. The method may also include heat treating the additive portion at a temperature greater than 1200° C. to heal cracks and/or fill pores and to homogenize the alloy of which the additive portion is comprised. The additive portion alloy has a chemistry defined by the superalloy powder mixture. The base material powder may be formed of a nickel-base superalloy with an aluminum content by weight of at least 1.5%. The eutectic powder may be a nickel-base alloy including by weight about 6% to about 11% chromium, about 5% to about 9% titanium, and about 9% to about 13% zirconium, with balance nickel as its primary components.

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for forming block crystals of a metal compound. In some embodiments, a method for forming block crystals of a metal compound may comprise (a) introducing a source metal into a furnace; (b) forming a complete or partial vacuum in the furnace and increasing a temperature of the furnace above a melting point of the source metal to form a liquid flow of the source metal; (c) breaking the liquid flow to generate particles of the source metal; (d) ionizing the particles in an ionization chamber to form ionized particles, wherein the ionization chamber has a temperature above a decomposition temperature of the metal compound; and (e) introducing the ionized particles into a growth chamber comprising a reactive gas that is reactive with the ionized particles, to thereby form the block crystals of the metal compound.