Patent ID: 7316066

Claim:
A method of manufacturing an article by applying heat and pressure comprising the steps of: (a) joining a connector to a sealed assembly, the connector having a first end and a second end, the first end having a smaller cross-sectional area than the second end and a bore extending through the connector from the first end to the second end, joining the second end of the connector to the sealed assembly, (b) joining a pipe to the first end of the connector, (c) evacuating the interior of the sealed assembly via the pipe, (d) sealing the pipe with at least one seal, (e) applying heat and pressure to the sealed assembly, wherein step (a) comprises forming a first metal component, forming a second metal component, forming at least one fibre preform, the fibre preform comprising at least one fibre, placing the at least one fibre and a filler metal between the first metal component and the second metal component, sealing the first metal component to the second metal component and step (e) comprises applying heat and pressure such as to consolidate the at least one fibre and the filler metal and to diffusion bond the filler metal, the first metal component and the second metal component to form a unitary composite component.