Manufacturing of Composites by Pressure Infiltration, Structure and Mechanical Properties

摘要

This paper presents the possibility of composite block production by using pressureudinfiltration technology. This method uses the pressure of an inert gas (usually argon orudnitrogen) to force the melted matrix material to infiltrate the reinforcing elements. Two typesudof materials were considered: metal matrix syntactic foam and carbon fibre reinforced metaludmatrix composite. Physical and mechanical investigations – such as optical microscopy,udscanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractography (XRD), tensile and upsettingudtests (considering aspect ratio) – were performed. The results of measurements areudsummarized briefly here. Microscopic investigations showed almost perfect infiltration. XRDudmeasurements and tensile tests revealed negative effect of an intermetallic phase (Al(4)C(3)) onudultimate tensile strength (UTS). Syntactic foams showed plateau region in their upsettinguddiagrams. The effect of aspect ratio was also investigated. Specimens with higher aspect ratiosudshowed higher peak stress and higher modulus of elasticity. In the case of carbon fibreudreinforced metal matrix composites Al(4)C(3) ensured high compressive fracture strength.