METHOD OF BONDING A CERAMIC COMPOSITE BODY TO A SECOND BODY AND ARTICLES PRODUCED THEREBY

This invention relates generally to a novel method of manufacturing a composite body and to novel products made thereby. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of producing a self-supporting composite body comprising one or more boron-containing compounds, e.g., a boride or a boride and carbide, by reactive infiltration of molten parent metal into a bed or mass containing boron carbide, and, optionally, one or more inert fillers and permitting residual or excess parent metal to remain bonded to the formed self-supporting composite body. The residual or excess metal is used to form a bond between the formed composite body and another body (e.g., a metal body, a ceramic body, or another composite body). In addition, this invention related to alternative methods of disposing metal on at least one surface of the above-described composite bodies (such as sputtering, CVD, etc.) to permit the composite bodies to be bonded to another body.