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AssigneeHRL Laboratories, LLC
InventorsJohn H. Martin, Brennan Yahata, Tobias A. Schaedler, Jacob M. Hundley
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Some variations provide a process for additive manufacturing of a nanofunctionalized metal alloy, comprising: providing a nanofunctionalized metal precursor containing metals and grain-refining nanoparticles; exposing a first amount of the nanofunctionalized metal precursor to an energy source for melting the precursor, thereby generating a first melt layer; solidifying the first melt layer, thereby generating a first solid layer; and repeating many times to generate a plurality of solid layers in an additive-manufacturing build direction. The additively manufactured, nanofunctionalized metal alloy has a microstructure with equiaxed grains. Other variations provide an additively manufactured, nanofunctionalized metal alloy comprising metals selected from aluminum, iron, nickel, copper, titanium, magnesium, zinc, silicon, lithium, silver, chromium, manganese, vanadium, bismuth, gallium, or lead; and grain-refining nanoparticles selected from zirconium, tantalum, niobium, titanium, or oxides, nitrides, hydrides, carbides, or borides thereof, wherein the additively manufactured, nanofunctionalized metal alloy has a microstructure with equiaxed grains.
An additively manufactured, nanofunctionalized metal alloy comprising one or more metals and grain-refining nanoparticles containing one or more nanoparticle elements, wherein said one or more metals are selected from the group consisting of aluminum, iron, nickel, copper, titanium, magnesium, zinc, silicon, lithium, silver, chromium, manganese, vanadium, bismuth, gallium, lead, and combinations thereof, wherein said one or more nanoparticle elements are selected from the group consisting of zirconium, zirconium oxides, zirconium nitrides, zirconium carbides, zirconium borides, tantalum, tantalum oxides, tantalum nitrides, tantalum carbides, tantalum borides, niobium, niobium oxides, niobium nitrides, niobium carbides, niobium borides, titanium, titanium oxides, titanium nitrides, titanium carbides, titanium borides, and combinations of the foregoing, wherein said additively manufactured, nanofunctionalized metal alloy has a microstructure with equiaxed grains, wherein said microstructure is substantially crack-free, and wherein at least 90 vol % of said microstructure contains grains that are characterized in that there is less than 25% standard deviation in each of average grain length, average grain width, and average grain height.
A nanofunctionalized metal alloy comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.