Carbon as an aide for ductile nanocellular foam

A method of fabricating an article, the method comprising:

• providing a dispersion of nanowires in a first carrier fluid;
• combining the dispersion with a solution including at least one alloy element in a second carrier fluid;
• removing the first carrier fluid and the second carrier fluid to provide an arrangement of dry, loose nanowires including the at least one alloy element;
• prior to the bonding, forming the dry, loose nanowires into a geometry of an end-use article
• depositing the arrangement of nanowires into a mold;
• compressing said arrangement of nanowires in said mold to consolidate said nanowires;
• placing said assembly into a furnace;
• and
• after the compression step, bonding in a furnace in the presence of carbon, the arrangement of nanowires together into a unitary cellular structure, introducing the carbon by a gas containing carbon into the furnace, wherein said bonding is done in an environment having the gas containing carbon that reacts with the nanowires to alter the composition of the nanowires and the surfaces of the nanowires that are in contact with each other to permanently bond together at nodes, such that cores of the nanowires remain solid and support the unitary cellular structure.