High Power Microwave (HPM) systems have many civilian and military applications in the areas of communications and radar. One of the major technical barriers to realizing practical devices is the RF breakdown of component materials. The intense high frequency RF electric and magnetic fields present in HPM devices are known to cause a mechanical and electrical breakdown on surfaces of the HPM device. Thermal shock caused by rapid temperature excursions between room temperature and the pulse heated temperature of even less than a few hundred degrees centigrade can induce defects and cracks in the copper material with a resultant deterioration of performance. It is desirable to make the copper, or other conductive material, for the HPM component resistant to thermal shock. This invention, in early stage development by University of California , Engineering Department researchers, involves creation of a high strength and fatigue resistant copper material which is also highly electrically conductive, without containing any electrically insulating particles, so that reliable RF operation of HPM devices is made possible.

File Number: 21015 

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