Patent ID: 6467168
Filing Date: 2002-10-22
Classification: B21D,B23K,F01D,F05D,Y10T

Abstract:
A method of manufacturing an article of predetermined finished profile by diffusion bonding and superplastic forming at least two metal workpieces comprising the steps of:(a) forming at least two metal workpieces, each metal workpiece has at least one surface, (b) applying a stop off material to prevent diffusion bonding preselected areas of at least one of the surface of at least one of the at least two metal workpieces, (c) assembling the at least two metal workpieces into a stack relative to each other so that the surfaces are in mating abutment, (d) applying heat and pressure across the thickness of the at least two metal workpieces to diffusion bond the at least two metal workpieces together in areas other than the preselected areas to form an integral structure, (e) upset forging one end of the integral structure to produce a region of increased thickness, (f) heating the integral structure and internally pressurizing the integral structure to cause the preselected area of at least one of the metal workpieces to be hot formed to produce a hollow article of predetermined shape.