5580results about "Non-electric welding apparatus" patented technology

Prior electrochromic devices frequently suffer from high levels of defectivity. The defects may be manifest as pin holes or spots where the electrochromic transition is impaired. This is unacceptable for many applications such as electrochromic architectural glass. Improved electrochromic devices with low defectivity can be fabricated by depositing certain layered components of the electrochromic device in a single integrated deposition system. While these layers are being deposited and/or treated on a substrate, for example a glass window, the substrate never leaves a controlled ambient environment, for example a low pressure controlled atmosphere having very low levels of particles. These layers may be deposited using physical vapor deposition.

Prior electrochromic devices frequently suffer from poor reliability and poor performance. Some of the difficulties result from inappropriate design and construction of the devices. In order to improve device reliability two layers of an electrochromic device, the counter electrode layer and the electrochromic layer, can each be fabricated to include defined amounts of lithium. Further, the electrochromic device may be subjected to a multistep thermochemical conditioning operation to improve performance. Additionally, careful choice of the materials and morphology of some components of the electrochromic device provides improvements in performance and reliability. In some devices, all layers of the device are entirely solid and inorganic.

Methods for manufacturing ultrasonic waveguides having improved velocity gain are disclosed. Additionally, methods for manufacturing ultrasonic medical devices including the ultrasonic waveguides are disclosed. Specifically, the ultrasonic waveguides comprises a first material having a higher acoustic impedance and a second material having a lower acoustic impedance.

A method of bonding of germanium to aluminum between two substrates to create a robust electrical and mechanical contact is disclosed. An aluminum-germanium bond has the following unique combination of attributes: (1) it can form a hermetic seal; (2) it can be used to create an electrically conductive path between two substrates; (3) it can be patterned so that this conduction path is localized; (4) the bond can be made with the aluminum that is available as standard foundry CMOS process. This has the significant advantage of allowing for wafer-level bonding or packaging without the addition of any additional process layers to the CMOS wafer.

A semiconductor wafer support assembly and method of fabricating the same are provided. In one embodiment, the method and resulting assembly include attaching a pedestal joining-ring to a bottom surface of a ceramic puck. Low temperature brazing a composite cooling plate structure to the bottom surface of the ceramic puck, where the pedestal joining-ring circumscribes the composite cooling plate structure. Thereafter, a pedestal is electron-beam welded to the pedestal joining-ring.

Large gas turbine blades made from separate cast segments of superalloys are disclosed. The turbine blade is designed such that bond lines between adjacent segments are placed in low stress regions of the blade. The cast superalloy segments of the blades are aligned and fitted together with specified tolerances. The turbine blade segments are then joined by transient liquid phase bonding, followed by a controlled heat treatment which produces the desired microstructure in the bond region. The method allows for the production of large, high quality turbine blades by joining small, high quality cast superalloy sections, in comparison with prior attempts to cast large turbine blades as single pieces which have produced very low yields and high individual component costs.

A laser beam machining method and a laser beam machining device capable of cutting a work without producing a fusing and a cracking out of a predetermined cutting line on the surface of the work, wherein a pulse laser beam is radiated on the predetermined cut line on the surface of the work under the conditions causing a multiple photon absorption and with a condensed point aligned to the inside of the work, and a modified area is formed inside the work along the predetermined determined cut line by moving the condensed point along the predetermined cut line, whereby the work can be cut with a rather small force by cracking the work along the predetermined cut line starting from the modified area and, because the pulse laser beam radiated is not almost absorbed onto the surface of the work, the surface is not fused even if the modified area is formed.

Deposition of metal in a preferred shape, including coatings on parts, or stand-alone materials, and subsequent heat treatment to provide improved mechanical properties. In particular, the method gives products with relatively high yield strength. The products often have relatively high elastic modulus, and are thermally stable, maintaining the high yield strength at temperatures considerably above 25 DEG C. This technique involves depositing a material in the presence of a selected additive, and then subjecting the deposited material to a moderate heat treatment. This moderate heat treatment differs from other commonly employed "stress relief" heat treatments in using lower temperatures and/or shorter times, preferably just enough to reorganize the material to the new, desired form. Coating a shape and heat treating provides a shaped deposit with improved material properties. Coating a shape with a portion connected to a base and a portion detached therefrom can provide a resilient, conductive contact useful for electronic applications.

A method for fabricating a semiconductor component with a through wire interconnect includes the step of providing a substrate having a circuit side, a back side, and a through via. The method also includes the steps of: threading a wire through the via, forming a contact on the wire on the back side, forming a bonded contact on the wire on the circuit side, and then severing the wire from the bonded contact. The through wire interconnect includes the wire in the via, the contact on the back side and the bonded contact on the circuit side. The contact on the back side, and the bonded contact on the circuit side, permit multiple components to be stacked with electrical connections between adjacent components. A system for performing the method includes the substrate with the via, and a wire bonder having a bonding capillary configured to thread the wire through the via, and form the contact and the bonded contact. The semiconductor component can be used to form chip scale components, wafer scale components, stacked components, or interconnect components for electrically engaging or testing other semiconductor components.

Surface-mount, solder-down sockets are described which permit electronic components such as semiconductor packages to be releasably mounted to a circuit board. Generally, the socket includes resilient contact structures extending from a top surface of a support substrate, and solder-ball (or other suitable) contact structures disposed on a bottom surface of the support substrate. Composite interconnection elements are described for use as the resilient contact structures disposed atop the support substrate. In use, the support substrate is soldered down onto the circuit board, the contact structures on the bottom surface of the support substrate contacting corresponding contact areas on the circuit board. In any suitable manner, selected ones of the resilient contact structures atop the support substrate are connected, via the support substrate, to corresponding ones of the contact structures on the bottom surface of the support substrate.

A semi-automatic welding work cell, including a welding job sequencer that automatically selects a welding schedule for use by an operator in the semi-automatic welding work cell. The automatic selection may be by way of elapsed time, a detection of welding operations, a detection of the amount of welding wire supplied for the welding operation, or a detection of the amount of energy supplied for the welding operation.

The welding apparatus and associated method are provided. The welding apparatus includes a welding tool for forming a weld joint along the surface of at least one workpiece. The welding apparatus also includes a compression tool for selectively inducing a layer of residual compressive stress in at least a portion of the surface of the weld joint and the surface of the at least one workpiece to thereby improve the material properties of the workpiece, including corrosion resistance and fatigue strength.

A method of forming a structural airframe component for an aircraft and an airframe structural component The method includes placing at least two components (1,2) in abutting relationship with each other and joining them together by friction stir butt welding (3), and the structural airframe component comprises a component manufactured according to the method of the invention.

Metallic workpieces of diverse shapes having work surfaces which are deformed at the surface and adjacent sub-surface layers by surface impact from ultrasonic transducers employing freely axially moving impacting elements propelled and energized by a transducer oscillating surface vibrating periodically at an ultrasonic frequency. The impacting elements are propelled in a random aperiodic and controlled impact mode at different phases of the periodic oscillation cycles. The transducer may be portable and provides a series of mechanically interconnected stages having mechanical resonances harmonically related as a multiple of the primary ultrasonic frequency and have matched stage resistances under instantaneous loading when the impact elements are driven by the transducer oscillating surface into the surface of the workpiece. This mode of operation produces Q-factor amplification of the input ultrasonic power oscillator energy at the impact needles and high propulsion velocities making it possible to machine metallic workpiece bodies to greater depths for compressing the metal to increase compressive strength of the workpiece work surfaces to substantially the ultimate material strength. The impact machining is done at ambient temperatures.

An additive manufacturing system includes an additive manufacturing tool configured to supply a plurality of droplets to a part, a temperature control device configured to control a temperature of the part, and a controller configured to control the composition, formation, and application of each droplet to the plurality of droplets to the part independent from control of the temperature of the part via the temperature control device. The plurality of droplets is configured to build up the part. Each droplet of the plurality of droplets includes at least one metallic anchoring material.

A nearly isothermal heat pipe heat sink is provided. The heat sink includes a flat heat pipe connected to one or more flat vapor chambers using a conduit and a heat pipe. The connected flat heat pipe and the flat vapor chambers form a common vapor domain. Fins are attached on the outer surfaces of the flat heat pipe and the flat vapor chambers. Various capillary structures are also provided for fabricating flat heat pipes. A panelized welding process is further provided for fabricating flat heat pipes or flat vapor chambers. The panelized welding process uses either friction stir welding (FSW) or plasma beam welding to transversely join the panels that form the flat heat pipes or the flat vapor chambers.

Self-propagating formation reactions in nanostructured multilayer foils provide rapid bursts of heat at room temperature and therefore can act as local heat sources to melt solder or braze layers and join materials. This reactive joining method provides very localized heating to the components and rapid cooling across the joint. The rapid cooling results in a very fine microstructure of the solder or braze material. The scale of the fine microstructure of the solder or braze material is dependant on cooling rate of the reactive joints which varies with geometries and properties of the foils and components. The microstructure of the solder or braze layer of the joints formed by melting solder in a furnace is much coarser due to the slow cooling rate. Reactive joints with finer solder or braze microstructure show higher shear strength compared with those made by conventional furnace joining with much coarser solder or braze microstructure. It is expected that the reactive joints may also have better fatigue properties compared with conventional furnace joints.

A method for joining at least two workpieces in abutment to each other by a joining element. The joining element 6 is driven so as to perform rotational and translational movements in order to be moved through the upper workpiece 2 and into the lower workpiece 4 without full penetration of the lower workpiece in order to provide for an integral one-piece joint between the joining element and the lower workpiece due to friction as a result of said rotational and translational movements. The joining process will result further in a joint between the joining element and the upper workpiece which is mainly a positively interlocking and/or friction joint. The workpieces remain in engagement to each other and are being interconnected. The method enables to join workpieces 2, 4 not only of similar but also of different materials such as aluminium/steel or plastic material/metal. Generally it is sufficient that the joining area is accessible only from one side.

A multi-pass friction stir weld joint and method for forming such joints are provided. The multi-pass weld joint is formed of at least first-pass and second-pass friction stir weld joints that are disposed in the workpiece in a substantially parallel configuration. The first- and second-pass joints define transversely opposite advancing and retreating sides, and the second-pass joint is disposed to at least partially overlap the retreating side of the first-pass joint. Thus, at least some of the material of the workpiece in the first-pass joint is processed during the formation of the second-pass joint.

A device (100) and method (200) for bonding a ribbon wire (104) to a workpiece (106) comprising feeding the ribbon wire through a passageway (116) of an ultrasonic bond capillary (102) and clamping the ribbon wire against an engagement surface (120) of the bond capillary via a clamping jaw (118) operably coupled to the bond capillary. The ribbon wire (104) is bonded to the workpiece (106) along a bonding surface (112) of the bond capillary (102) and penetrated, at least partially, between the bonding surface and the engagement surface (120) of the bond capillary by a cutting tool (124). The cutting tool (124) may comprise an elongate member (126) positioned between the bonding surface (112) and engagement surface (120), and may have a cutting blade (128) positioned at a distal end (130) thereof. The cutting tool (124) may further comprise a ring cutter (132), wherein the ribbon wire passes through a ring (134) having a cutting surface (138) defined about an inner diameter thereof.

Systems and methods for fabricating multi-functional articles comprised of additively formed gradient materials are provided. The fabrication of multi-functional articles using the additive deposition of gradient alloys represents a paradigm shift from the traditional way that metal alloys and metal/metal alloy parts are fabricated. Since a gradient alloy that transitions from one metal to a different metal cannot be fabricated through any conventional metallurgy techniques, the technique presents many applications. Moreover, the embodiments described identify a broad range of properties and applications.

A friction stir welding tool includes a body having an upper surface defining an entrance opening and a lower surface, and a pin having a lower surface defining an exit opening, wherein the pin extends from the lower surface of the body. The friction stir welding tool further includes a passageway defined by the body and the pin from the entrance opening to the exit opening and is capable of allowing a filler material to pass therethrough. A friction stir welding method includes applying a frictional heating source to a workpiece to plasticize a volume of the workpiece and applying the frictional heating source to to a filler material to plasticize the filler material. The method further includes introducing the filler material into the volume of the workpiece and incorporating the filler material into the volume of the workpiece.

A method of making a low distortion frame construction, the construction having joint regions formed by first and second overlapping members defining a lapped interface, the joint regions being comprised of material that can be converted to a solid state deformable plastic condition by friction heat, comprising: (a) providing a stir friction welding tool having (i) a rotatable thermally conductive body presenting a shoulder to engage the joint region for storing friction-generated heat, and (ii) a friction generating pin rotatable with said body about a pin axis and selectively extendable from the shoulder to progressively penetrate the overlapping members as the joint region in contact with the pin becomes plastic; (b) placing the tool shoulder against the joint region with the pin axis transverse to the lapped interface and spinning the body while progressively extending the pin at a rotational speed effective to generate friction heat that converts the adjacent material of the joint to a plastic condition allowing the spinning of the probe to stir such plastically converted material; and (c) controlling the depth of penetration of the spinning probe while translating the tool across the joint region to perfect a friction stirred welded zone that extends through the interface and between the overlapping members to provide a welded joint that is exceptionally strong in shear.

A friction-stir welding probe tip is disclosed which has right-handed threads on one portion of the probe and left-handed threads on another portion of the probe such that weld material is drawn to the middle of the weld as the friction-stir welding probe is rotated and passed along the joint region of the pieces to be joined. This probe tip is also fitted with a shoulder region for gripping by a rotation means.

This invention discloses conductive busbars and sealants for electrooptic devices including electrochromic mirrors and windows. The conductive busbars are formed from materials comprising nanoparticles, and the sealants comprise of additives that promote a two phase morphology and use of adhesion promotion additives with crosslinkers. Methods to deposit busbars and then to connect these busbars to electrical connectors are also disclosed.

A friction stir welding tool for welding high-strength materials with one or more of the following features: 1) a curved transition geometry structure at the shoulder face and probe interface; 2) a tool material selected on the basis of an ultimate tensile strength determined at or above the temperature of the tool processing temperature; 3) a compressive stress at the point of crack fatigue introduced by mechanical or chemical means; and 4) a threaded probe with a) a major to minor thread diameter ratio that increases toward the distal end of the probe and/or b) with a curved thread root.

A radiused corner support plate is used to form a corner void when making L- and T-corner welds that are filled with plasticized work piece material during friction stir welding to form a filleted corner weld. An improved friction stir welding tool uses either disrupting features such as crossed rectangular grooves in the distal tip end or a curved tip region or both to improve plasticized work piece material flow below the distal end and in the region of the fillet.

A flip chip interconnection structure is formed by mechanically interlocking joining surfaces of a first and second element. The first element, which may be a bump on an integrated circuit chip, includes a soft, deformable material with a low yield strength and high elongation to failure. The surface of the second element, which may for example be a substrate pad, is provided with asperities into which the first element deforms plastically under pressure to form the mechanical interlock.

An apparatus used in a process for supporting a printed circuit board during a wave soldering operation including a frame with a frame opening in which a surface of the frame supports the board and also serves as a reference surface for vertically positioning the board above the solder pool. The board is secured against the reference surface with spring loaded clamps. Stiffeners preferably being an aluminum extrusion having a Tee or angle cross section is mounted along the outside edge of the reference surface of the frame and has a second reference surface facing in a direction opposite the reference surface of the frame. The second reference surface on the extrusion is accessible for support by a slide rail so that the height of the reference surface of the frame above the surface of the pool is independent of the thickness of the board or frame. A board support bar for minimizing warpage of the board from heat is disclosed as well as a hold down bar that secures components on the board so that they do not float away when contacted by the solder wave.

The present invention provides a bonding wire improved in formability of a ball part, improved in bondability, good in loop controllability, improved in bonding strength of a wedge connection, securing industrial production ability as well, and mainly comprised of copper which is more inexpensive than gold wire, that is, provides a bonding wire for a semiconductor device comprised of a bonding wire having a core material having copper as its main ingredient and a surface covering layer over the core material and of a conductive metal of a composition different from the core material, characterized in that the surface covering layer has as its main ingredients two or more types of metals selected from gold, palladium, platinum, rhodium, silver, and nickel and the surface covering layer has a concentration gradient of one or both of a main ingredient metal or copper in the wire radial direction.