Methods for the development of commercial scale nano-engineered ultraconductive copper wire
AssigneeCleveland State University
InventorsTaysir H. Nayfeh, Anita M. Wiederholt
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Abstract
When forming ultra-conductive wire, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are dispersed and de-agglomerated in hot metal. The MWCNTs are dispersed in a precursor matrix via mixing and sintering to form precursor material, which is hot-extruded multiple rounds at a predetermined temperature to form a nano-composite material. The nano-composite material is inserted into a metal bar to form a nano-composite billet (306), which is subjected to multiple rounds of hot extrusion to form an ultra-conductive material. The ultra-conductive material is subjected to one or more rounds of hot wire drawing to form an ultra-conductive wire comprising a nano-composite filament.
Claims18
A bi-directional, dual chamber, hot extrusion flow mill (300) that facilitates forming ultra-conductive wire by de-agglomerating and dispersing multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in sub-melt softened state metal, comprising:
- a dual cavity bi-directional die (301);
- a first variable speed, variable force hydraulic press (302) that forces a first push block (304) against a nano-composite billet (306) thereby urging the billet through a bi-directional extrusion die (308) that draws down the diameter of the billet by a predetermined amount to form a nano-composite material;
- a second variable speed, variable force hydraulic press (310) that forces a second push block (312) against the nano-composite material to urge the nano-composite material through the bi-directional extrusion die (308) to further disperse the nano-composite material.
A method of de-agglomerating and dispersing multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in hot metal and forming ultra-conductive wire, comprising:
- dispersing and aligning the MWCNTs in a precursor matrix via mixing and sintering to form precursor material;
- hot-extruding the precursor material at a predetermined temperature to form a nano-composite material;
- inserting nano-composite material into a metal bar to form a nano-composite billet (306);
- subjecting the nano-composite billet to multiple rounds of hot extrusion to form an ultra-conductive material;
- and
- subjecting the ultra-conductive material to one or more rounds of hot wire drawing to form an ultra-conductive wire comprising a nano-composite filament.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.