US 11,859,272 B1
In situ alloying of Cu—Cr—Nb alloys using selective laser melting
David S. Scannapieco, Cleveland, OH (US); and David L. Ellis, Cleveland, OH (US)
Assigned to United States of America as Represented by the Administrator of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC (US)
Filed by United States of America as represented by the Administrator of NASA, Washington, DC (US)
Filed on Apr. 20, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/235,395.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/012,666, filed on Apr. 20, 2020.
Int. Cl. C22C 9/00 (2006.01); B22F 10/28 (2021.01)
CPC C22C 9/00 (2013.01) [B22F 10/28 (2021.01)] 8 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of making a dispersion strengthened Cu—Cr2Nb alloy, the method comprising:
preparing a mixture of powders, the powders including copper (Cu) powder, chromium (Cr) powder, and niobium (Nb) powder, wherein the Cu powder has a mean particle size of 10-50 μm, the Cr powder has a mean particle size of less than 10 82 m; and the Nb powder has a mean particle size of less than 10 μm, wherein the Cr powder and the Nb powder are combined together and milled prior to forming the mixture with the Cu powder;
melting at least a portion of the mixture using a laser; and
cooling a melted portion of the mixture to form the dispersion strengthened Cu—Cr2Nb alloy.