Powdered metal as a sacrificial material for ultrasonic additive manufacturing

• Main Authors: Andersen, Michael L, Mayberry, Travis L, Schaefer, Gregory P
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 15.10.2019
• Subjects: ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY; ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING, i.e. MANUFACTURING OFTHREE-DIMENSIONAL [3-D] OBJECTS BY ADDITIVE DEPOSITION, ADDITIVEAGGLOMERATION OR ADDITIVE LAYERING, e.g. BY 3-D PRINTING,STEREOLITHOGRAPHY OR SELECTIVE LASER SINTERING; BLASTING; CLADDING OR PLATING BY SOLDERING OR WELDING; CUTTING BY APPLYING HEAT LOCALLY, e.g. FLAME CUTTING; DETAILS OF HEAT-EXCHANGE AND HEAT-TRANSFER APPARATUS, OFGENERAL APPLICATION; HEAT EXCHANGE IN GENERAL; HEATING; LIGHTING; MACHINE TOOLS; MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; SOLDERING OR UNSOLDERING; TRANSPORTING; WEAPONS; WELDING; WORKING BY LASER BEAM

A manifold structure and method of forming a structure having at least one enclosed cavity includes using an ultrasonic additive manufacturing (UAM) process to build up a solid component, forming a cavity in the solid component, filling the cavity with a sacrificial material, using a UAM process to build up a finstock layer over the cavity filled with the powder material to enclose the cavity and form the enclosed cavity, and removing the sacrificial material from the enclosed cavity after the finstock layer is ultrasonically welded to the solid component. The sacrificial material has an adequate density to support the UAM process of forming the finstock layer over the cavity and the material may be removed from the enclosed cavity, resulting in an enclosed cavity having smooth surfaces with an optimal fluid flow area therethrough.