A new production technology for discontinuously reinforced Ai-SiC composites

摘要

There are several difficulties in attempting to produce quality Metal Matrix Composites -MMCs by foundry processes. The challenge is to find an economical way of introducing a large amount (20-30 vol%) of fine ceramic dispersoids in an metalalloy melt without rejection of the reinforcement and without unwanted chemical reactions. In order to achieve this aim and to accelerate the further commercialisation of this class of materials, a new foundry procedure was developed to producediscontinuously reinforced Al-SiC composites with 10-20 vol% of SiC reinforcement in the size range of less than 10μm. The potential of the new manufacturing procedure was evaluated by hot extrusion of cast billets and by inspection of the mechanicalproperties of extruded parts.