Stable undercooled metallic particles for filling a void
AssigneeIowa State University Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorsMartin Thuo, Ian Tevis
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Undercooled liquid metallic core-shell particles, whose core is stable against solidification at ambient conditions, i.e. under near ambient temperature and pressure conditions, are used to join or repair metallic non-particulate components. The undercooled-shell particles in the form of nano-size or micro-size particles comprise an undercooled stable liquid metallic core encapsulated inside an outer shell, which can comprise an oxide or other stabilizer shell typically formed in-situ on the undercooled liquid metallic core. The shell is ruptured to release the liquid phase core material to join or repair a component(s).
Claims20
A method of filling a void in a material, the method comprising:
- placing into the void a composition comprising a plurality of liquid metallic core-shell particles, each liquid metallic core-shell particle comprising
- a liquid metallic core comprising a metal or alloy, wherein the metallic core has a melting point, and
- an outer shell on the liquid metallic core, the outer shell comprising an inorganic or organic adlayer, wherein the inorganic or organic adlayer comprises acetate, phosphate, or a combination thereof, and wherein the liquid metallic core is a liquid and the liquid metallic core-shell particle has a temperature that is less than the melting point of the metallic core;
- and
- rupturing the outer shell of the plurality of liquid metallic core-shell particles to release the liquid metallic cores and to solidify the composition within the void to fill the void.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.