The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 27, 1992
Filed:
Nov. 15, 1990
Ronald L Holtz, Alexandria, VA (US);
Gan-Moog Chow, Greenbelt, MD (US);
Alan S Edelstein, Alexandria, VA (US);
Other;
Abstract
A method of forming a phase-separated composite material which utilizes sputtering in a thermal gradient at relatively high sputtering pressures generally above about 0.1 Torr sufficient to produce nanoscale particles which are embedded in a continuous phase matrix produced by normal sputtering. This method avoids the alloying and/or compound formation which prevents preparation of phase-separated composites by conventional co-sputtering, and the invention thus enables particulate composites to be formed from entirely new classes of materials. Microhardness testing shows that the phase-separated composites produced by the present invention have an increased hardness compared to the pure matrix material.