High energy absorption-porous beryllium made by plasma consolidation

Claim 2

A process for making high energy absorption-porous plasmaconsolidated beryllium material having an absorbed energy to fracture of at least 150 inch-lbs/inch3 wherein said absorbed energy to fracture is the graphically integrated area under a stress-strain curve conducted to fracture, comprising the steps: a. preparing an as-coated plasma-deposited beryllium material having a theoretical density between about 75 and about 97 percent based on a 100 percent theoretical density corrected for BeO content according to the formula:

Claim 3

The process of claim 1 wherein the following step iS added before step (b) as follows: a. heating said beryllium article in a substantial vacuum to a temperature below its sintering temperature for a time period sufficient to substantially outgas and thermally desorb the gases and condensed gases occupying the pore surfaces of the material, respectively; and wherein the following step is added after step (b) as follows: c. cooling said density increased material at a rate sufficient to react said beryllium with at least one of its impurities to form an intermetallic compound so that said impurities will not adversely affect the mechanical properties of the material at room temperature.

Claim 4

The process of claim 2 wherein in step (c) one of the impurities reacted with the beryllium is selected from a group consisting of aluminum and silicon.

Claim 5

The process as in claim 2 wherein the density of the as-coated plasma-deposited material is between about 80 and about 90 percent theoretical density.

Claim 6

The process as in claim 2 wherein in step (a'') said beryllium material is heated below its sintering temperature for a period sufficient to decrease the as-coated adsorbed gas level of the material to below 10 4 moles per cubic centimeter of porosity.

Claim 7

The process of claim 2 wherein the step (a'') said beryllium article is heated below its densification temperature at a rate less than about 10*C. per minute; in step (b) said beryllium article is densified at a temperature between about 650* and about 1250*C for a period between about 30 minutes and about 4 hours; and in step (c) said densified article is cooled to ambient at a rate between about 1* and about 10*C. per minute.

Claim 8

The process as in claim 2 wherein in step (a'') said beryllium article is heated to about 500*C. and held thereat for a time period of at least 30 minutes.

Claim 9

The process as in claim 2 wherein in step (c) said densified article is cooled down to a temperature between about 500*C. and about 750*C. and held thereat for a period of at least 10 hours.

Claim 10

The process as in claim 6 wherein in step (a'') said beryllium article is heated below its sintering temperature at a rate of about 4*C. per minute; and in step (c) said densified article is cooled at a rate between about 1.5* and about 2.0*C. per minute.

Claim 11

A high energy absorption-porous plasma consolidated beryllium material having a theoretical density between about 77 percent and about (99 percent) 96 percent based on a 100 percent theoretical density corrected for BeO content according to the formula:

Claim 12

A high energy absorption-porous plasma consolidated beryllium material having a theoretical density between about 77 percent and about (99 percent) 96 percent based on a 100 percent theoretical density corrected for BeO content according to the formula:

Claim 13

The material of claim 10 wherein the absorbed energy to fracture is at least 200 inch-lbs/inch3.