PARTICULATE FIELD DISTRIBUTIONS IN CENTRIFUGALLY CAST METAL MATRIX COMPOSITES

摘要

Centrifugal casting is used to establish a gradient profile of reinforcementparticulate (12) densities in a carrier matrix (10) of a polymer resin and inan aluminum alloy. Cast disks of silicon carbide (SiC) reinforced resin and A1-Si/SiC particulate reinforced MMCs have been produced that show a gradient ofSiC increasing from a denuded region adjacent to an axis of rotation of thedisk to a maximum density at the periphery of the disk. An applied centrifugalacceleration applied by rotating the mold (66) is used to establish anartifical settling of the particulate field in a homogeneous mixture of afluid matrix (10) and the particulates (12). The principle parameters inestablishing a range of particulate densities in centrifugally castparticulate composites are the centrifugal acceleration applied and the lengthof time the matrix material remains in a liquid state. The magnitude of theseparameters are determined by the specifics of a particular casting design.