Method for manufacturing massive components made of intermetallic materials

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a massive component substantially wholly made of intermetallic material, comprising the steps of: a) preparing a mixture of powders of at, least two metallic elements, the powders being present in the mixture in a proportion by weight corresponding to the atomic percentage in which the at least two metallic elements are present in a corresponding intermetallic compound which may be formed from these metallic elements; b) applying a plurality of layers of such a mixture of powders by cold spraying on a substrate so as to obtain, on the substrate, a preform of metallic mixture of predetermined thickness; c) thermally treating at least the preform of metallic mixture so as to cause the reaction between the at least two metallic elements to form the corresponding intermetallic compound; and d) removing the substrate, thus obtaining the massive component made of intermetallic material.

1 . A method for manufacturing a massive component substantially wholly made of intermetallic material, comprising the steps of:
 a) preparing a mixture of powders of at least two metallic elements, the powders being present in the mixture in proportion by weight corresponding to the atomic percentage in which said at least two metallic elements are present in a corresponding intermetallic compound which may be formed from these metallic elements;   b) applying a plurality of layers of such a mixture of powders by cold spraying on a substrate (S) so as to obtain, on the substrate (S), a preform of metallic mixture of predetermined size;   c) thermally treating at least the preform of metallic mixture so as to cause the reaction between said metallic elements to form said intermetallic compound; and   d) removing said substrate (S), thus obtaining the massive component made of intermetallic material.   
     
     
         2 . A method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that said step d) of removing is carried out before said step c) of thermal treating and by separating said preform of metallic mixture from said substrate (S), said massive component made of intermetallic material being obtained in step c) from said preform of metallic mixture. 
     
     
         3 . A method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that said step d) of removing is carried out after said step c) of thermal treating, in step c) thus obtaining a massive preform of intermetallic material, said massive component made of intermetallic material being obtained in step d) from said massive preform of intermetallic material. 
     
     
         4 . A method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that said substrate is made of a material which does not react with said at least two metallic elements. 
     
     
         5 . A method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that said substrate is at least partially coated with an insulating release layer. 
     
     
         6 . A method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that said step of thermal treating is carried out at a temperature essentially close to the eutectic or peritectic temperature related to said intermetallic compound. 
     
     
         7 . A method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that said step b) of applying is carried out at a temperature of the particles which is lower than half the melting temperature of the lowest-melting metallic element of said mixture of powders. 
     
     
         8 . A method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that said mixture of powders consists of particles having an average size from 1 to 200 μm. 
     
     
         9 . A method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that said mixture of powders consists of particles having an average size from 1 to 50 μm. 
     
     
         10 . A method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that it comprises, between said step b) of applying and said step c) of thermal treating, a step e) of stress relieving treatment at a temperature such as to not trigger the reaction of formation of the intermetallic compound. 
     
     
         11 . A method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that said step a) of preparing a mixture of powders of at least two metallic elements is carried out by mixing the at least two elements either pure or alloyed or in the form of coated powders. 
     
     
         12 . A method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that said step b) of applying by cold spraying is carried out using a carrier gas selected from the group consisting of helium, neon, argon, nitrogen, oxygen, air or any mixture thereof in any proportion. 
     
     
         13 . A method according to  claim 1 , characterized in that said step c) of thermal treating is carried out in an oven or by means of other means of delivering thermal energy. 
     
     
         14 . A massive component made of intermetallic material obtainable by the method according to  claim 1 .