Method for manufacturing metal alloy foam

Abstract

The present application provides a method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam. The present application can provide a method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam, which is capable of forming a metal alloy foam comprising uniformly formed pores and having excellent mechanical properties as well as the desired porosity, and a metal alloy foam having the above characteristics. In addition, the present application can provide a method capable of forming a metal alloy foam in which the above-mentioned physical properties are ensured, while being in the form of a thin film or sheet, within a fast process time, and such a metal alloy foam.

Claims

1. A method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam, comprising: sintering a green structure comprising a metal component, wherein the green structure is formed by using a slurry comprising the metal component, a dispersant and a binder, wherein the metal component comprises a first metal having a relative magnetic permeability of 90 or more and a conductivity at 20? C. of 8 MS/m or more and a second metal different from the first metal, wherein the metal component comprises 30 weight % or more of the first metal based on the total weight of the metal component, wherein the second metal is one or more selected from the group consisting of copper, zinc, indium, tin, silver, platinum, gold, aluminum and magnesium, wherein the slurry comprises 20 to 500 parts by weight of the dispersant relative to 100 parts by weight of the metal component, wherein the slurry comprises 30 to 200 parts by weight of the binder relative to 100 parts by weight of the metal component, wherein the slurry comprises 3 to 400 parts by weight of the binder relative to 100 parts by weight of the dispersant, wherein the dispersant is a monohydric alcohol having 1 to 20 carbon atoms selected from the group consisting of methanol, ethanol, propanol, pentanol, octanol, 2-methoxyethanol, 2-ethoxyethanol, 2-butoxyethanol, texanol, and terpineol, wherein the green structure is formed by coating the slurry in the form of a film or sheet having a thickness of 2,000 ?m or less, wherein the sintering of the green structure is performed only by applying an electromagnetic field to the structure, and wherein the electromagnetic field is formed by applying a current in a range of 250 A to 1,000 A.

2. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the first metal is nickel, iron or cobalt.

3. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the metal component comprises 35 weight % or more of the first metal based on the total weight of the metal component.

4. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the metal component has an average particle diameter in a range of 0.1 to 200 ?m.

5. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the binder is an alkyl cellulose, polyalkylene carbonate or polyvinyl alcohol compound.

6. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the slurry comprises 25 to 500 parts by weight of the dispersant relative to 100 parts by weight of the metal component.

7. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the slurry comprises 40 to 200 parts by weight of the binder relative to 100 parts by weight of the metal component.

8. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the slurry comprises 3 to 350 parts by weight of the binder relative to 100 parts by weight of the dispersant.

9. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic field is formed by applying a current in a range of 350 A to 1,000 A.

10. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic field is formed by applying a current at a frequency in a range of 100 kHz to 1,000 kHz.

11. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic field is applied for a time in a range of 1 minute to 10 hours.

12. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the method comprises drying the green structure prior to the sintering.

13. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the slurry consists of the metal component, the dispersant and the binder.

14. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the green structure is formed by coating the slurry in the form of a film or sheet having a thickness of 1,000 ?m or less.

15. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the green structure is formed by coating the slurry in the form of a film or sheet having a thickness of 500 ?m or less.

16. The method for manufacturing a metal alloy foam according to claim 1, wherein the green structure is formed by coating the slurry in the form of a film or sheet having a thickness of 100 ?m or less.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is the XRD analysis results of a metal alloy formed in Example.

MODE FOR INVENTION

(2) Hereinafter, the present application will be described in detail by way of examples and comparative examples, but the scope of the present application is not limited to the following examples.

Example 1

(3) Nickel (Ni) having a conductivity of about 14.5 MS/m at 20? C. and a relative magnetic permeability of about 600 was used as a first metal and copper (Cu) was used as a second metal, and the first metal and the second metal were mixed in a weight ratio (Ni:Cu) of about 99:1 to form a metal component. Here, the average particle diameter of nickel as the first metal was about 10 ?m or so, and the average particle diameter of copper was about 5 ?m or so. The metal component, texanol as a dispersant and ethyl cellulose as a binder were mixed in a weight ratio of 50:15:50 (metal component:dispersant:binder) to prepare a slurry. The slurry was coated on a quartz plate in the form of a film to form a green structure. Subsequently, the green structure was dried at a temperature of about 120? C. for about 60 minutes. An electromagnetic field was then applied to the green structure with a coil-type induction heater while purging with hydrogen/argon gas to form a reducing atmosphere. The electromagnetic field was formed by applying a current of about 350 A at a frequency of about 380 kHz, and the electromagnetic field was applied for about 5 minutes. After the application of the electromagnetic field, the sintered green structure was placed in water and subjected to sonication cleaning to produce a nickel-copper alloy sheet having a thickness of about 39 ?m in the form of a film. The produced nickel-copper sheet had a porosity of about 80.3% and a tensile strength of about 4.3 MPa. FIG. 1 is XRD data of the alloy produced in Example. It can be seen from the drawing that peaks of XRD have been shifted from peaks of Ni alone to alloy peaks of Ni and Cu (shifting in the direction of arrow in FIG. 1), whereby it can be seen that the alloy has been formed.

Example 2

(4) A nickel-copper alloy sheet having a thickness of about 38 ?m in the form of a film was produced in the same manner as in Example 1, except that the weight ratio (Ni:Cu) of the first and second metals in the metal component was changed to 97:3. The produced nickel-copper alloy sheet had a porosity of about 79.9% and a tensile strength of about 5.4 MPa.

Example 3

(5) A nickel-copper alloy sheet having a thickness of about 40 ?m in the form of a film was produced in the same manner as in Example 1, except that the weight ratio (Ni:Cu) of the first and second metals in the metal component was changed to 95:5. The produced nickel-copper alloy sheet had a porosity of about 80.5% and a tensile strength of about 5.3 MPa.

Example 4

(6) A nickel-copper alloy sheet having a thickness of about 45 ?m in the form of a film was produced in the same manner as in Example 1, except that the weight ratio (Ni:Cu) of the first and second metals in the metal component was changed to 9:1. The produced nickel-copper alloy sheet had a porosity of about 79.5% and a tensile strength of about 5.4 MPa.

Example 5

(7) A nickel-copper alloy sheet having a thickness of about 38 ?m in the form of a film was produced in the same manner as in Example 1, except that the weight ratio (Ni:Cu) of the first and second metals in the metal component was changed to 8:2. The produced nickel-copper alloy sheet had a porosity of about 79.1% and a tensile strength of about 5.4 MPa.

Example 6

(8) A nickel-copper alloy sheet having a thickness of about 38 ?m in the form of a film was produced in the same manner as in Example 1, except that the weight ratio (Ni:Cu) of the first and second metals in the metal component was changed to 1:1. The produced nickel-copper alloy sheet had a porosity of about 79.5% and a tensile strength of about 5.2 MPa.

Reference Example

(9) A nickel-copper alloy sheet having a thickness of about 44 ?m in the form of a film was produced in the same manner as in Example 1, except that only nickel as the first metal in the metal component was applied. The produced nickel sheet had a porosity of about 81.5% and a tensile strength of about 4.2 MPa.