Methods for in situ formation of dispersoids strengthened refractory alloy in 3D printing and additive manufacturing
AssigneeAddman Intermediate Holdings, LLC
InventorYouping Gao
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods of fabricating objects using additive manufacturing are provided. The methods create in situ dispersoids within the object. The methods are used with refractory alloy powders which are pretreated to increase the oxygen content to between 500 ppm and 3000 ppm or to increase the nitrogen content to between 250 ppm and 1500 ppm. The pretreated powders are then formed into layers in an environmentally controlled chamber of an additive manufacturing machine. The environmentally controlled chamber is adjusted to have between 500 ppm and 200 ppm oxygen. The layer of pretreated powder is then exposed to a transient moving energy source for melting and solidifying the layer; and creating in situ dispersoids in the layer.
Claims14
A method of fabricating an object from refractory powder alloys using additive manufacturing comprising:
- (a) selecting a refractory alloy powder from the group consisting of niobium refractory alloy powder, rhenium refractory alloy powder, tantalum refractory alloy powder, molybdenum refractory alloy powder and tungsten refractory alloy powder;
- (b) pretreating the refractory alloy powder in an environmentally controlled inert gas chamber by heating the refractory alloy powder in an oxygen and nitrogen containing atmosphere at a temperature between about 250° F. to about 750° F. for a period of between about 20 to 120 minutes to increase an oxygen content in the refractory alloy powder to between 500 ppm and 3000 ppm or to increase a nitrogen content in the refractory alloy powder to between 250 ppm and 1500 ppm;
- and
- (c) exposing the refractory alloy powder after pretreating to a transient energy source to melt and solidify the refractory alloy powder;
- wherein dispersoids are formed in situ in a layer with the dispersoids having diameters of between 1 micron and 10 microns.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.