Patent ID: 8197730

Claim:
A method of forming a polymer composite feedstock for use in net shape molding a component having a metallic layer about an exterior surface thereof, the method comprising the steps of: providing a polymer resin, said polymer resin having a usable molten state that exists between a first temperature and a second temperature higher than said first temperature; providing a single granular metal alloy having a melting temperature that is within the range of said usable molten state of said polymer; heating said polymer resin to a temperature that is greater than said first temperature and less than said melting temperature of said granular metal, thereby causing said polymer resin to become molten; uniformly dispersing said granular metal throughout said molten polymer resin to form a composition; extruding said composition to form injection molding feedstock, wherein a processing temperature of said feedstock for subsequent molding operations is less than said second temperature but greater than the melting temperature of said granular metal; placing said extruded composition into an injection molding assembly; heating said composition to a temperature that is greater than said melting temperature of said granular metal; injecting said composition under pressure into a mold cavity having cavity walls, wherein said pressure causes said metal to separate from said polymer, said metal migrating toward said cavity walls and said polymer migrating toward the interior of said cavity; cooling said composition to form a component having a metallic layer entirely surrounding an exterior surface of a polymer core.