US Patent 7998367 - Manufacture of metal-CNT composites

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7998367.html

This patent is based on research conducted at the University of New Mexico and teaches how to form metal composites with carbon nanotubes to improve the thermal conductivity of heat sinks or other thermal dissipation structures. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of forming a metal-carbon nanotube composite comprising:

providing a plurality of carbon nanotubes;

providing powdered metal;

mixing the plurality of carbon nanotubes with the powdered metal to form a mixture of the carbon nanotubes and the powdered metal;

sintering the mixture of the plurality of carbon nanotubes and the powdered metal followed by cooling to form a solid metal-carbon nanotube composite; and

aligning the carbon nanotubes of the sintered solid metal-carbon nanotube composite.