Method of manufacturing lightweight thermo-barrier material

Claim 1

A method of manufacturing a lightweight metallic structure having stacked dimpled core structures with nodes each having a flat surface projecting in opposite directions from a midplane and flat material sandwiched between each of the stacked dimpled core structures and on the outer surface of the outer most stacked dimpled core structure for forming an end surface thereto, said dimpled core structure and flat plate material comprising thin metallic foil material, with the foil thickness of some of the dimpled core structures and flat plate material being thinner than the others comprising the steps of: selecting component material of a selected size; providing plating material between at least the node and flat plate connecting surface; securing together the stacked components; positioning the nodes of the dimpled core material in substantially vertical alignment during the securing together of the components; placing the secured together components on a reference surface; arranging the secured together components to a predetermined height and subjecting said components to a predetermined pressure against the reference surface, said predetermined pressure and height are provided by rigid tools and dead weight means, wherein said rigid tools surround the components of said lightweight metallic structure and extend to a height less than the height of the stacked components and said dead weight means forces said components downward to a vertical height equal to the height of said rigid tools; placing the secured together components and reference surface in a vacuum furnace; and elevating the temperature within the furnace and maintaining that elevated temperature sufficiently long to cause a eutectic melt of the plating materials and diffuse the plating materials into the base material of the adjacent components creating a diffusion bond between the node flat surface and adjacent flat plate material while maintaining the predetermined height and predetermined pressure to prevent crushing of the dimpled core material during the eutectic melting and diffusion bonding sequence.

Claim 2

A method of manufacturing a lightweight metallic structure having stacked dimpled core structures with nodes each having a flat surface projecting in opposite directions from a midplane and flat material sandwiched between each of the stacked dimpled core structures and on the outer surface of the outer most stacked dimpled core structure for forming an end surface thereto, said dimpled core structure and flat plate material comprising thin metallic foil material, with the foil thickness of some of the dimpled core structures and flat plate material being thinner than the others comprising the steps of: selecting component material of a selected size; providing plating material between at least the node and flat plate connecting surface; securing together the stacked components; positioning the nodes of the dimpled core material in substantially vertical alignment during the securing together of the components; placing the secured together components on a reference surface; arranging the secured together components to a predetermined height and subjecting said components to a predetermined pressure against the reference surface, said predetermined pressure and height are provided by rigid tools and dead weight means, wherein said rigid tools surround the components of said lightweight metallic structure and extend to a height less than the height of the stacked components and said dead weight means forces said components downward to a vertical height equal to the height of said rigid tools; placing the secured together components and reference surface in a vacuum furnace; and elevating the temperature within the furnace and maintaining that elevated temperature sufficiently long to cause a eutectic melt of the plating materials and diffuse the plating materials into the base material of the adjacent components creating a diffusion bond between the node flat surface and adjacent flat plate material while maintaining the predetermined height and predetermined pressure to prevent crushing of the dimpled core material during the eutectic melting and diffusion bonding sequence.