Powder metal with attached ceramic nanoparticles

• US 9,796,019 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2015
• Issued: 10/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rtx Corporation
• Original Assignee: United Technologies Corporation (Raytheon Technologies Corporation d/b/a RTX)
• Inventors: She, Ying, Sharon, John A., Beals, James T., Nardi, Aaron T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Holly
• Application Number:
  US14/670,623
• Publication Number:
  US 20160279704A1
• Time in Patent Office: 942 Days
• Field of Search: 427201, 427256, 4273722
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 1/102 Metallic powder coated with organic material
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 1/142 Thermal or thermo-mechanical treatment
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 1/145 Chemical treatment, e.g. passivation or decarburisation
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 1/16 Metallic particles coated with a non-metal coated with lubricating or binding agents or with organic material B22F1/10
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 10/28 Powder bed fusion, e.g. selective laser melting [SLM] or electron beam melting [EBM]
• CPC Class Codes: B22F 2998/10 Processes characterised by the sequence of their steps
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 15/0086 welding for purposes other than joining, e.g. built-up welding
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 15/0093 characterised by the properties of the materials to be welded
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 2103/02 Iron or ferrous alloys
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 2103/08 Non-ferrous metals or alloys
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 2103/10 Aluminium or alloys thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 2103/14 Titanium or alloys thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 2103/52 Ceramics
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/0006 taking account of the properties of the material involved B23K26/32, B23K26/40 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/342 Build-up welding
• CPC Class Codes: B29C 64/153 using layers of powder being selectively joined, e.g. by selective laser sintering or melting
• CPC Class Codes: C22C 32/0015 with only single oxides as main non-metallic constituents
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 10/25 Process efficiency

Abstract

A method for processing a powder material includes cleaning surfaces of a powder material that has spherical metal particles, coating the cleaned surfaces with an organic bonding agent, mixing the coated particles with a dispersion that contains ceramic nanoparticles, drying the mixture to remove a carrier of the dispersion and deposit the ceramic nanoparticles with a spaced-apart distribution onto the organic bonding agent on the surfaces of the particles, and thermally removing the organic bonding agent to attach the ceramic nanoparticles to the surface of the particles.

Claims

1. A method for processing a powder material, the method comprising:

cleaning surfaces of the powder material that has spherical metal particles;

coating the cleaned surfaces with an organic bonding agent;

mixing the coated particles with a dispersion that contains a carrier and ceramic nanoparticles;

drying the mixture to remove the carrier of the dispersion and to deposit the ceramic nanoparticles with a spaced-apart distribution onto the organic bonding agent on the surfaces of the spherical metal particles; and

thermally removing the organic bonding agent to attach the ceramic nanoparticles to the surfaces of the spherical metal particles.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the ceramic nanoparticles are oxide nanoparticles.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the ceramic nanoparticles are zirconium oxide.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the ceramic nanoparticles are selected from the group consisting of oxides, nitrides, carbides, and combinations thereof.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein, after the thermal removal of the organic bonding agent, the powder material has a composition, by weight, of 0.1-5% of the ceramic nanoparticles.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the cleaning includes etching the surfaces using an acid.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein after the mixing and prior to the drying, the particles are rinsed in a controlled amount of water.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the organic bonding agent includes a surfactant with polar end groups.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the organic bonding agent includes dodecyl sulfate.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the dispersion is a colloid.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the spherical metal particles include nickel.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the spherical metal particles include chromium.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the spherical metal particles include nickel and chromium, the ceramic nanoparticles are zirconium oxide and, after the thermal removal of the organic bonding agent, the powder material has a composition, by weight, of 0.1-5% of the zirconium oxide.