Patent ID: 7927528

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a beaded preform for forming a plurality of voids in an engineered material comprising: extruding a preform material out a first opening to produce an extruded preform material; calendering said extruded preform material to form a beaded filament preform comprising a plurality of beads spaced apart and connected by one or more filaments along said extruded preform material; introducing the extruded preform material into an amorphous first material to coat the beaded preform material such that the first material has an internal surface that is reciprocal to the shape of the extruded preform material; and shaping the coated beaded preform material into a predetermined form and consolidating the form to produce an engineered material configured internally as a lattice having an internal surface that is reciprocal to the shape of said extruded beaded preform material, whereby the beaded preform forms a plurality of voids in the engineered material.