Porous sintered material, and method for producing porous sintered material
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for producing porous metal sheets face challenges in achieving uniform porosity and shape flexibility, particularly in forming thin sheets or thick structures with uniform porosity, and in maintaining surface area and form retention during sintering.
Innovation Solution
A porous sintered body is created by using hollow cores and sintered walls with voids, where the sintered walls have a microparticulate layer formed from a second sintering powder with a smaller diameter, allowing for communication between cores and voids and increasing surface area through necking sintering and controlled absent regions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional compression and sintering of metal fiber is used, then porous metal sheets can be produced, but uniform porosity cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the porous structure into two distinct components: hollow cores (from vanished fibers) and sintered walls (from powder particles). This segmentation allows independent control of porosity (through core size and distribution) and structural integrity (through wall sintering), achieving uniform porosity that cannot be obtained by simple fiber compression
Solution Approach 2:
The fibriform vanisher material is prepared and positioned in advance to define the desired porous structure, and the sintering powder is pre-applied to the fiber surfaces. During sintering, the powder forms walls while the fiber gradually vanishes, ensuring uniform porosity development before the structure collapses
2Adaptability or versatility
If fibriform metal or powdery metal is used to form porous bodies, then skeletal structures can be created, but thickness and porosity are limited by raw material dimensions
Solution Approach 1:
The invention changes the fundamental parameters of the forming process: instead of being constrained by fiber diameter (10-100 μm), the porous structure is defined by the sintering powder particle size and the vanished fiber dimensions. This allows production of sheets from a few micrometers to several millimeters in thickness while maintaining uniform porosity, as the powder can be applied uniformly regardless of the final product thickness
3Area of stationary object
If powdery metal is used to form porous structures, then surface area can be increased, but form retention during sintering deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention creates a composite structure where sintering powder (providing surface area) is combined with fibriform vanisher material (providing form retention). The fiber acts as a temporary scaffold that maintains the desired shape during processing, then vanishes to leave the porous powder structure. This composite approach allows both high surface area and good form retention
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables the production of porous sintered bodies with uniform porosity, high shape flexibility, and extremely large surface areas, suitable for applications such as catalytic reactions.
Implementation Method 1
sintering the powder held around the cores and which extend in the longitudinal directions of the cores
Data Source
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AI summary
[Object] There is provided a porous sintered body has a uniform porosity, a high level of freedom in body formation which allows formation into varieties shapes and various levels of porosity, and a very large surface area. [Solution] The porous sintered body includes: hollow cores which follow a vanished shape of an interlaced or otherwise structured fibriform vanisher material; sintered walls 226 which extend longitudinally of the cores and obtained by sintering a first sintering powder held around the cores; and voids formed between the sintered walls. The cores and the voids communicate with each other via absent regions formed in the sintered walls. The sintered walls have surfaces formed with a sintered microparticulate layer 232 made from a material containing a second sintering powder which has a smaller diamater than the first sintering powder, and has predetermined pores 231.