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AssigneeHRL Laboratories, LLC
InventorsJohn H. Martin, Tobias A. Schaedler, Brennan Yahata, Jacob M. Hundley, Jason A. Graetz, Adam F. Gross, William Carter
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Disclosed herein are surface-functionalized powders which alter the solidification of the melted powders. Some variations provide a powdered material comprising a plurality of particles fabricated from a first material, wherein each of the particles has a particle surface area that is continuously or intermittently surface-functionalized with nanoparticles and/or microparticles selected to control solidification of the powdered material from a liquid state to a solid state. Other variations provide a method of controlling solidification of a powdered material, comprising melting at least a portion of the powdered material to a liquid state, and semi-passively controlling solidification of the powdered material from the liquid state to a solid state. Several techniques for semi-passive control are described in detail. The methods may further include creating a structure through one or more techniques selected from additive manufacturing, injection molding, pressing and sintering, capacitive discharge sintering, or spark plasma sintering.
A solid object or article comprising a structure produced by an additive manufacturing or injection molding process comprising:
A solid object or article comprising a continuous solid phase and a first layer of nanoparticles and/or microparticles disposed at an outer surface of said continuous solid phase, wherein said continuous solid phase is a melted and resolidified form of a powdered material comprising a plurality of particles, wherein said particles are fabricated from a first material, wherein each of said particles has a particle surface area that is surface-functionalized with said nanoparticles and/or microparticles selected to control solidification of said powdered material from a liquid state to a solid state, and wherein said nanoparticles and/or microparticles are fabricated from a second material that is different than said first material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.