Cellular materials formed using surface transformation
First Claim
1. A method of forming cellular material, comprising:
- forming a predetermined arrangement of a plurality of holes in a volume of material through a surface of the volume of material; and
annealing the volume of material such that the volume of material undergoes a surface transformation to transform the arrangement of the plurality of holes into a predetermined arrangement of at least one empty space below the surface of the volume of material.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Systems, devices and methods are provided that are related to cellular materials that have a precisely-determined arrangement of voids formed using surface transformation. In various embodiments, the cellular materials are suitable for use in various structural, mechanical and/or thermal applications. One aspect of the present subject matter is a method of forming cellular material. According to various embodiments of the method, a predetermined arrangement of the plurality of holes is formed in a volume of material through a surface of the volume of material. The volume of material is annealed such that the volume of material undergoes a surface transformation in which the arrangement of the plurality of holes is transformed into a predetermined arrangement of at least one empty space below the surface of the volume of material. Other aspects are provided herein.
40 Citations
62 Claims
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1. A method of forming cellular material, comprising:
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forming a predetermined arrangement of a plurality of holes in a volume of material through a surface of the volume of material; and
annealing the volume of material such that the volume of material undergoes a surface transformation to transform the arrangement of the plurality of holes into a predetermined arrangement of at least one empty space below the surface of the volume of material. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of forming cellular material, comprising:
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forming a predetermined arrangement of a plurality of holes in a volume of material through a surface of the volume of material, including controlling a diameter and a depth for each of the plurality of holes, and controlling a spacing between the plurality of holes; and
annealing the volume of material such that the volume of material undergoes a surface transformation to transform the arrangement of the plurality of holes into a predetermined arrangement of at least one empty space below the surface of the volume of material. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of forming cellular material, comprising:
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forming a predetermined arrangement of a plurality of holes in a volume of material through a surface of the volume of material, the volume of material having a well-defined melting temperature; and
annealing the volume of material at a temperature that is close to and below the well-defined melting temperature such that the volume of material undergoes a surface transformation to transform the arrangement of the plurality of holes into a predetermined arrangement of at least one empty space below the surface of the volume of material, a number of the plurality of holes being adapted to form a pattern of at least one empty pipe upon annealing. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of forming cellular material, comprising:
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forming a predetermined arrangement of a plurality of holes in a volume of material through a surface of the volume of material, the volume of material having a well-defined melting temperature; and
annealing the volume of material at a temperature that is close to and below the well-defined melting temperature such that the volume of material undergoes a surface transformation to transform the arrangement of the plurality of holes into a predetermined arrangement of at least one empty space below the surface of the volume of material, a number of the plurality of holes being adapted to form a predetermined pattern of at least one empty plate upon annealing. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method of forming cellular material, comprising:
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forming a predetermined arrangement of a plurality of holes in a volume of material through a surface of the volume of material, the volume of material having a well-defined melting temperature; and
annealing the volume of material at a temperature that is close to and below the well-defined melting temperature such that the volume of material undergoes a surface transformation to transform the arrangement of the plurality of holes into a predetermined arrangement of at least one empty space below the surface of the volume of material, a number of the plurality of holes being adapted to form a predetermined pattern of at least one empty sphere upon annealing. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method of forming cellular material to have a predictable mechanical fatigue site for a given force, comprising:
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forming a predetermined arrangement of a plurality of holes in a volume of material through a surface of the volume of material; and
annealing the volume of material such that the volume of material undergoes a surface transformation to transform the arrangement of the plurality of holes into a predetermined arrangement of at least one empty space below the surface of the volume of material, wherein forming a predetermined arrangement of a plurality of holes includes forming a predetermined arrangement of a plurality of holes adapted to form a predetermined pattern of at least one empty void suitably positioned to provide the volume of material with a predictable fatigue site for a given force. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32)
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33. A method of forming cellular material to have a number of empty spaces that provide an approximately uniform density and a majority of the number of empty spaces being closed, comprising:
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forming a predetermined arrangement of a plurality of holes in a volume of material through a surface of the volume of material; and
annealing the volume of material such that the volume of material undergoes a surface transformation to transform the arrangement of the plurality of holes into a predetermined arrangement of at least one empty space below the surface of the volume of material, wherein a relationship between stiffness (S) and density (ρ
) for the cellular material approaches S∝
ρ
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2. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36)
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37. A method of forming cellular material, comprising:
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forming a first predetermined arrangement of a plurality of first holes in a volume of material through a first surface of the volume of material, each of the first holes having a predetermined length and diameter;
annealing the volume of material such that the volume of material undergoes a surface transformation to transform the first arrangement of the first holes into a first arrangement of at least one empty space in the volume of material;
forming a second predetermined arrangement of a plurality of second holes in the volume of material through a second surface of the volume of material, each of the second holes having a predetermined length and diameter; and
annealing the volume of material such that the volume of material undergoes a surface transformation to transform the second arrangement of the second holes into a second arrangement of at least one empty space in the volume of material. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39)
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40. A method of forming cellular material, comprising:
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depositing a first layer of material;
forming a first arrangement of holes through a surface of the first layer of material;
annealing the first layer of material such that the first layer of material undergoes a surface transformation to transform the first arrangement of holes into a first arrangement of at least one empty space below the surface of the first layer of material;
depositing a second layer of material on the first layer of material;
forming a second arrangement of holes through a surface of the second layer of material; and
annealing the second layer of material such that the second layer of material undergoes a surface transformation to transform the first arrangement of holes into a second arrangement of at least one empty space below the surface of the first layer of material. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43)
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44. A structure of cellular material, comprising:
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a solid structure of material having a well-defined melting temperature and a well-defined annealing temperature below the melting temperature suitable to perform a surface transformation process; and
a precisely-determined arrangement of a plurality of voids formed within the solid structure, the plurality of voids being separated by a critical length (λ
C) that is dependent on the radius (RC) of a number of holes used to form the plurality of voids using the surface transformation process,wherein a majority of the precisely-determined arrangement of the plurality of voids within the solid structure are closed and approximately uniformly spaced to provide the structure of cellular material with a uniform density. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A structure of cellular material, comprising:
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a solid structure of material having a well-defined melting temperature and a well-defined annealing temperature below the melting temperature suitable to perform a surface transformation process; and
a precisely-determined arrangement of a plurality of voids formed within the solid structure, the plurality of voids being separated by a critical length (λ
C) that is dependent on the radius (RC) of a number of holes used to form the plurality of voids using the surface transformation process,wherein the precisely-determined arrangement of the plurality of voids within the solid structure are arranged to provide the structure with a predictable mechanical failure for a given force. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
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Specification