Patent ID: 7900811

Claim:
A process for making components having internal voids and channels in fluid communication with the exterior of the component using diffusion bonding of stacked and registered laminates, the process comprising: a) forming a laminate stack by stacking and registering a plurality of laminates in a predetermined order, thereby establishing interfacial contact areas within the laminate stack and a thereby establishing a laminate stack exterior, such that the plurality of laminates define internal voids and channels within the laminate stack in fluid communication with the laminate stack exterior, and such that the laminate stack exterior is comprised of a top face and a bottom face, where the top face and the bottom face are parallel to the interfacial contact areas within the laminate stack; b) applying a uniaxial pressure to the top face and the bottom face, where the uniaxial pressure has a single principal axis and the single principal axis is perpendicular to the top face and the bottom face, such that the uniaxial pressure acts to compress the laminate stack along the single principal axis, and maintaining the uniaxial pressure while subjecting the laminate stack to a first time such that initial bonding occurs at the interfacial contact areas, thereby producing an initially bonded laminate stack; and c) applying an isostatic pressure to the initially bonded laminate stack while subjecting the initially bonded laminate stack to a second temperature and for a second time such that final bonding occurs at the interfacial contact areas, thereby forming a component having internal voids and features in fluid communication with the exterior of the component.