Machines for making metal fibril compacts

Abstract

Abstract Method and Product: Compacts composed of fibrils of tough, recalcitrant metals such as stainless steel; the density of the compacts being about 30 to 85 percent of the density of the metal of which the ''''fibrils'''' are composed. The fibrils range in transverse dimension from about 0.0005 to 0.005 inch, have an area less than that of a 0.002 inch circle, are of uniform length, and are made by shearing off narrow width pieces from the end of a rolled strip of parent metal. Individual fibrils have the two flat rolled faces of the parent strip and two sheared faces the width of one of the sheared faces being wider than the other as a result of shearing, so that the cross section of the fibril ranges from roughly triangular to squashed four-sided configuration with the two rolled faces converging toward the narrower of the sheared faces. Compacts are made by separating the fibrils and air lifting them against a traveling screen through which loose extraneous burrs, chips and slivers are substantially removed, thereby leaving a mat of fibrils substantially free from degraded particles which might otherwise contaminate the mat and migrate through it. The mat has excellent green strength and is compressed through several stages preferably with intermediate annealing until the densities are obtained. Compacts of varying densities throughout the thickness of the compact may be prepared. The compacts composed of the compressed mat (or layers of mat) may be supported on exterior surfaces by woven or reticulated metal support members. Extremely recalcitrant metals such as hard-to-work Type 347 Stainless Steel Alloy and similar difficulty machinable metals may be utilized for making the original fibrils. The finished compacts are useful for sophisticated filtering and the like applications and for transpiration cooled surfaces.

Inventors

• 👤 Bertil J Sundberg
• 👤 Andreas Luksch

Bibliographic Details