Method for manufacturing environmentally conscious foamed aluminum materials
US5632319A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 4, 1995 |
| Grant date | May 27, 1997 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 4, 2015 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC C)Chemistry; Metallurgy
- CPC primaryC22C1/083
- WIPO fieldMaterials, metallurgy
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
A process for making high-quality foamed aluminum articles is disclosed. This process comprises the step of: (a) placing a raw aluminum feedstock into a mold, the raw aluminum feed stock contains at least 50 wt % spent (i.e., recycled) aluminum and does not contain any extraneous viscosity enhancing agent such as metallic calcuim or magnesium; (b) heating the mold so as to melt the raw aluminum feedstock to form a liquid aluminum mass; (c) stirring the liquid aluminum mass in open air to increase its viscosity by a factor of at least about 1.3 to 1.8; (d) adding a foaming agent into the liquid aluminum mass; (e) continuing stirring the liquid aluminum mass containing the foaming agent so as to generate and uniformly distribute gas bubbles inside said liquid aluminum mass; and (f) cooling and solidifying the liquid aluminum mass to room temperature so as to form the foamed aluminum article. In a preferred embodiment, recycled foamed aluminum materials are used as the raw aluminum feedstock. The foamed aluminum article has a porosity of at least 80%, a specificity density of no greater than 0.45, and an average pore size between 3 and 6 min. Because the process is self-thickening, an…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.