Synthesis of nanoscale metal feedstock for additive manufacturing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12233455-B2
Application number	US-202418628908-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2024
Priority date	Jun 16, 2021
Publication date	Feb 25, 2025
Grant date	Feb 25, 2025

Abstract

A method of making a metal-polymer composite includes dealloying metallic powder to yield porous metal particles, monitoring a temperature of the mixture, controlling the rate of combining, a maximum temperature of the mixture, or both, and combining the porous metal particles with a polymer to yield a composite. Dealloying includes combining the metallic powder with an etchant to yield a mixture. A metal-polymer composite includes porous metal particles having an average particle size of about 0.2 μm to about 500 μm and a thermoplastic or thermoset polymer. The polymer composite comprises at least 10 vol % of the porous metal particles. A powder mixture includes porous metal particles having an average particle size of about 0.2 μm to about 500 μm and a metal powder. The powder mixture includes about 1 wt % to about 99 wt % of the porous metal particles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of dealloying metallic powder to yield porous metal particles, the method comprising:
combining the metallic powder with an acid or a base to yield a mixture;
wherein a maximum temperature of the mixture is in a range of 30° C. to 90° C.; and
separating the porous metal particles from the mixture, wherein a ligament size of the porous metal particles is less than 100 nm.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metallic powder comprises a copper-aluminum alloy.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metallic powder comprises gas-atomized powder.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the porous metal particles comprise mesoporous copper particles.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising combining the porous metal particles with a polymer to yield a composite.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising drying the composite, extruding the composite, or both.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the polymer is at least partially solubilized in a solvent.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the composite is in the form of a paste.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein the composite comprises at least 10 vol % of the porous metal particles.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising cooling the mixture.

11. A method of dealloying metallic powder to yield porous metal particles, the method comprising:
combining the metallic powder with an acid or a base to yield a mixture, wherein combining the metallic powder with the acid or the base comprises controlling a rate of addition of the metallic powder to a vessel containing the acid or the base or controlling the rate of addition of the acid or the base to a vessel containing the metallic powder; and
separating the porous metal particles from the mixture, wherein a ligament size of the porous metal particles is less than 100 nm.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the metallic powder comprises a copper-aluminum alloy.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the metallic powder comprises gas-atomized powder.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein controlling the rate of addition of the metallic powder comprises titrating the metallic powder into the acid or the base or titrating the acid or the base into the metallic powder.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the porous metal particles comprise mesoporous copper particles.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising combining the porous metal particles with a polymer to yield a composite.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising drying the composite, extruding the composite, or both.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the composite is in the form of a paste.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the composite comprises at least 10 vol % of the porous metal particles.

20. The method of claim 11 , further comprising cooling the mixture.

Assignees

• Niauzorau Stanislau
• Sharstniou Aliaksandr
• Hasib Amm G
• Azeredo Bruno
• Kublik Natalya
• Song Kenan
• Chawla Nikhilesh
• Niverty Sridhar
• Univ Arizona State
• Purdue Research Foundation

Inventors

• Niauzorau Stanislau
• Sharstniou Aliaksandr
• Hasib Amm G
• Azeredo Bruno
• Kublik Natalya
• Song Kenan
• Chawla Nikhilesh
• Niverty Sridhar

Classifications

• B33Y70/10 Primary

  Composites of different types of material, e.g. mixtures of ceramics and polymers or mixtures of metals and biomaterials · CPC title

• B22F1/145

  Chemical treatment, e.g. passivation or decarburisation · CPC title

• B22F1/05

  Metallic powder characterised by the size or surface area of the particles · CPC title

• B22F10/18

  by mixing binder with metal in filament form, e.g. fused filament fabrication [FFF] · CPC title

• B22F2301/10

  Copper · CPC title