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US 2012/0153548 A1Published application
Novel cermets from molten metal infiltration processing
AssigneeLawrence Livermore National Security, LLC
InventorRichard Lee Landingham
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Abstract
New cermets with improved properties and applications are provided. These new cermets have lower density and/or higher hardness than B4C cermet. By incorporating other new ceramics into B4C powders or as a substitute for B4C, lower densities and/or higher hardness cermets result. The ceramic powders have much finer particle size than those previously used which significantly reduces grain size of the cermet microstructure and improves the cermet properties.
Claims20
A method for fabricating a cermet, comprising:
- providing a ceramic powder comprising nano-powder size particles;
- sintering said ceramic powder at a sintering temperature to produce a porous ceramic preform matrix;
- and
- infiltrating said matrix with a metal alloy to produce a cermet, wherein said ceramic powder comprises a blend of boron carbide, aluminum boride and magnesium boride, the method further comprising cold pressing said blend to greater than 55% density, wherein the step of sintering is carried out in a protective environment.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.