Patent ID: 8163335

Claim:
A composite structure formation method comprising: transporting particle clusters formed in a prescribed shape in advance and stored in a storage mechanism from the storage mechanism to an aerosolation mechanism in combination with a gas supplied from a gas supply mechanism; disaggregating the transported particle clusters to form an aerosol; and spraying the aerosol toward a substrate to form a composite structure having the substrate and a structure made of a constituent material of the particle clusters, wherein each of the particle clusters is an assemblage of fine particles which has been intentionally packed by non-chemical coupling, the fine particles including particles having a mean particle diameter of 0.1 micrometers or more and 10 micrometers or less, the particle clusters are controlled to have a spatula angle of 46.2 degree or less, and controlled to have a mean particle diameter of 10 micrometers or more and 500 micrometers or less, said transporting involves controlling a force imparted to the particles clusters when transporting from the storage mechanism to be sufficiently small so that the shape of the particle clusters is not impaired, and whereby a uniform quantitativeness in supply of the particle clusters is achieved when transporting from the storage mechanism.