Patent ID: 7686864

Claim:
A method for manufacture of liquid-metal composite contacts comprising: producing fabric of high-melting metal-based wire; rolling said fabric into a cylindrical workpiece and installing said fabric into a matrix; pressing said workpiece to obtain a structure having desired dimensions; reducing said structure within a vacuum furnace in an environment of hydrogen obtained from metal hydride; and soaking said structure in three sequential stages lasting ten to twenty minutes each with a low-melting metal or alloy in said hydride hydrogen environment within said vacuum furnace, said low-melting metal or alloy including tin (Sn), indium (In), and gallium (Ga), the structure being soaked in a first stage with liquid tin (Sn) at a temperature of 750° C. to 1100° C., the structure being soaked in a second stage with liquid indium (In) at a temperature of 750° C. to 1000° C., and the structure being soaked in a third stage with liquid gallium (Ga) at a temperature of 700° C. to 900° C., the amount of said liquid tin (Sn), said liquid indium (In), and said liquid gallium (Ga) used being selected to be proportional to a eutectic mixture and volume of pores in said structure.