MANUFACTURE OF COMPOSITE INFLATED METAL STRUCTURES

摘要

The specification describes composite metallic structures and more particularly inflated structural articles and methods of making such articles. Sheets of malleable metal, either of the same or different metals, are solid-phase bonded one to the other in a conventional manner. Prior to bonding a pattern of stopoff material which includes thermally decomposable material is applied to one or more interfacial surfaces to inhibit bonding of the metal sheets contiguous with the pattern. The composite is then sintered to improve the metallurgical bond and then formed, as by cutting, stamping, bending, drawing, and the like into a selected configuration which can range from a generally planar element to a complex shaped element which includes compound reentrant surfaces. Finally, the formed composite is raised above a predetermined temperature to decompose the stop-off material thereby generating a gas which inflates the composite along the areas defined by the pattern.