Fine grain niobium sheet via ingot metallurgy

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9255309-B2
Application number	US-201213463024-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 3, 2012
Priority date	Aug 31, 2005
Publication date	Feb 9, 2016
Grant date	Feb 9, 2016

Abstract

In various embodiments, metallic products are formed by alloying niobium with at least one of yttrium, aluminum, hafnium, titanium, zirconium, thorium, lanthanum, or cerium and processing the alloy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for forming a metallic product, the method comprising:
melting niobium to form a melt;
adding an amount greater than 5 ppm and no greater than 100 ppm, based on the niobium in the melt, of a metal consisting of at least one of yttrium, aluminum, hafnium, titanium, zirconium, thorium, lanthanum, or cerium to form a melted blend consisting of only the niobium and the metal in an amount greater than 5 ppm and no greater than 100 ppm;
cooling the melted blend to form an alloy ingot; and
thermo-mechanically processing the alloy ingot to form a wrought product having a uniform ASTM grain size of 5 to 10.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein thermo-mechanically processing the alloy ingot comprises (i) forging the alloy ingot to form the wrought product and (ii) annealing the wrought product.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the wrought product is annealed at a temperature selected from the range of 950° C. to 1150° C.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the wrought product is at least 75% recrystallized after annealing.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wrought product is a foil, a sheet, a plate, a tube, or a rod.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein thermo-mechanically processing the alloy ingot comprises (i) rolling the alloy ingot and (ii) annealing the rolled alloy ingot.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the rolled alloy ingot is annealed at a temperature selected from the range of 950° C. to 1150° C.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal consists of at least one of aluminum, hafnium, titanium, or zirconium.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the metal consists of aluminum.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the metal consists of hafnium.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the metal consists of titanium.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the metal consists of zirconium.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein adding the metal to the niobium to form the melted blend comprises melting the metal with the niobium.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the melted blend consists of only the niobium and the metal in an amount greater than 5 ppm and no greater than 60 ppm.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the melted blend consists of only the niobium and the metal in an amount greater than 5 ppm and no greater than 50 ppm.

Assignees

• Aimone Paul R
• Starck H C Inc

Inventors

• Aimone Paul R

Classifications

• B22F3/02

  Compacting only · CPC title

• B22F2998/10

  Processes characterised by the sequence of their steps · CPC title

• B22F3/24

  After-treatment of workpieces or articles {(B22F3/1146 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• B22F1/0003

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• C22B9/20

  Arc remelting · CPC title