Inventors:
Prabhat Kumar - Framingham MA, US
Paul Aimone - Bridgewater MA, US
Robert Balliett - Westboro MA, US
Peter Jepson - Newbury MA, US
Anthony Parise - Nashua NH, US
Thomas Ramlow - Medfield MA, US
Henning Uhlenhut - Cambridge MA, US
International Classification:
B22F001/00
B44C001/22
C03C015/00
Abstract:
A method of making sheet bar and other precursors of formed products to be made by extensive working. The method includes providing a powder metal, preferably under 100 PPM oxygen content of non-spherical particles, compacting the powder into a coherent precursor form of at least 100 pounds, whereby a precursor is provided enabling extended fabrication to a finished product form. The finished product is resistant to breakup in fabrication due to oxide inclusion effect and produces a low oxygen end product. The method can process multiple species of metals that include at least one higher melting metal and one lower melting metal to produce an alloy or micro-composite of the metals as worked, where one metal is preferably a refractory metal (Ta, Nb, W, Wo, Zr, Hf, V and Re). The process is controlled to cause powder of the higher melting metal to be extended into a fibrous form.
