Patent ID: 7553550

Claim:
A structural element formed of oxide-dispersed materials, wherein the element comprises at least two components which have been connected to each other according to a method comprising: positioning the components of the materials to be connected in overlapping and relationship to form an overlapping region, including a joining region at the overlapping region; performing a first welding operation by heating the materials or components at the joining region below the melting temperatures of the materials or the components without compression whereby the materials or components form, at least partially, a diffusion bond; and performing a subsequent and temporally delayed second welding operation by heating the diffusion bond to a temperature below the melting temperature of the materials or components to be connected, and by mechanically recompacting the diffusion bond wherein the structure of the connection between the materials or components is substantially free of any change in its fine-grained microstructure in a heat affected zone of the materials or components.