Method and system for thick-film deposition of ceramic materials
AssigneeVanderbilt University
InventorWilliam Hofmeister
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of depositing a solid film on a substrate in which a stream comprising particles suspended in a transport gas is moved through a heating zone. The particles are combined with the transport gas from a powder feeder operatively coupled to a gas flow tube. The particle stream is directed toward the heating zone by ejecting the powder stream from a nozzle connected to a distal end of the gas flow tube. A radiation source is directed at the suspended particles as they move through the heating zone so that the particles heated to a molten state. The droplets are undercooled in a cooling zone before impact with the substrate.
Claims36
A method of depositing a ceramic film on a substrate comprising the steps of:
- a. directing a powder stream comprising a moving stream of suspended ceramic particles through a heating zone;
- b. directing a radiation source at the suspended ceramic particles as they move through the heating zone so that the particles are exposed to the radiation source for a heating time sufficient to heat the particles to a molten state thereby creating liquid phase ceramic droplets that are suspended in the moving stream;
- and
- c. cooling the droplets to an undercooled state before impact with the substrate.
A method of forming a solid film of a material on a substrate comprising:
- a. feeding particles of the material into a gas flow tube containing a transport gas to form a moving particle stream;
- b. ejecting the particle stream from a nozzle into a heating zone;
- c. melting the particles in the heating zone to create liquid droplets of the material;
- d. cooling the liquid droplets to an undercooled state;
- e. depositing the droplets on the substrate.
A method of forming a solid film of a material on a substrate comprising suspending a powder made of from the material in a moving transport gas, melting the powder to form liquid droplets of the material, directing the droplets through a cooling region towards the substrate, and undercooling the droplets so that upon contact with the substrate the droplets solidify directly from a liquid phase to a 1:2:3 solid phase.
A system for free form deposition of a material on a substrate comprising:
- a. a source of transport gas operatively coupled to proximal end of a gas flow tube;
- b. a source of particles made from the material operatively coupled to the gas flow tube upstream of the gas source;
- c. a primary nozzle operatively coupled to a distal end of the gas flow tube, the primary nozzle positioned to direct a stream of the particles suspended in the transport gas towards the substrate through a heating zone and a cooling zone;
- d. an optical radiation source positioned to direct an energy beam at the suspended particles as they move through the heating zone, the radiation source and energy beam operative to create a power density in the heating zone that will melt the particles in the heating zone to form liquefied droplets of the material;
- e. wherein the cooling zone is defined by a transport distance between the heating zone and the substrate such that the droplets will undergo convection and radiant cooling as they pass through the cooling zone;
- and
- f. wherein the substrate has a substrate temperature that is lower than the temperature of the droplets such that upon impact with the substrate, the droplets are further cooled to an undercooled state.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.