Wettability and pressureless infiltration mechanism in SiC-Cu systems

The wetting behavior of copper alloys on SiC substrates was studied by a sessile drop technique. The microstructure of SiCp/Cu composites and the pressureless infiltration mechanism were analyzed. The results indicate that Ti and Cr are effective elements to improve the wettability, while Ni, Fe, and Al have minor influence on the improvement of wettability. Non-wetting to wetting transition occurs at 1210 and 1190℃ for Cu-3Al-3Ni-9Si and Cu-3Si-2Al-1Ti, respectively. All the copper alloys react with SiC at the interface forming a reaction layer except for Cu-3Al-3Ni-9Si. High Si content favors the suppression of interracial reaction. The infiltration mechanism during pressureless infiltration is attributed to the decomposition of SiC. The beneficial effect of Fe, Ni, and Al is to favor the dissolution of SiC. The real active element during pressureless infiltration is Si.

Bonding mechanism of X10CrNi18-8 with Ni/Al_2O_3 composite ceramic by pressureless infiltration

Abstract： An alloy steel/alumina composite was successfully fabricated by pressureless infiltration of X10CrNil8-8 steel melt on 30% （mass fraction） Ni-containing alumina based composite ceramic （Ni/Al2O3） at 1 600 ℃. The infiltration quality and interfacial bonding behavior were investigated by SEM, EDS, XRD and tensile tests. The results show that there is an obvious interfacial reaction layer between the alloying steel and the Ni/Al2O3 composite ceramic. The interfacial reactive products are （FexAly）3O4 intermetallic phase and （AlxCry）2O3 solid solution. The interracial bonding strength is as high as about 67.5 MPa. The bonding mechanism of X10CrNi 18-8 steel with the composite ceramic is that Ni inside the ceramic bodies dissolves into the alloy melt and transforms into liquid channels, consequently inducing the steel melt infiltrating and filling in the pores and the liquid channels. Moreover, the metallurgical bonding and interfacial reactive bonding also play a key role on the stability of the bonding interface.

Analysis of in situ Reaction and Pressureless Infiltration Process in Fabricating TiC/Mg Composites

An innovative processing route, in situ reaction combined with pressureless infiltration, was adopted to fabricate magnesium matrix composites, where the reinforcement TiC formed in situ from elemental Ti and C powders and molten Mg spontaneously infiltrated the preform of Ti and C. The influences of primarily elemental particle sizes, synthesizing temperature, holding time etc on in situ reactive infiltration for Mg-Ti-C system were systematically investigated in order to explore the mechanism of this process. In fabricating TiC/Mg composites, Mg can not only spontaneously infiltrate the preform of reinforcement and thus densify the as fabricated composites as matrix metal, but also it can accelerate the in situ reaction process and lower the synthesizing temperature of Ti and C as well. In situ reaction of Ti and C and Mg infiltration processes are essentially overlapping and interacting during fabrication of TiC/Mg composites. The mechanism proposed in this paper can be used to explain the formation and morphologies of the reinforcement phase TiC.

Preparation of SiC_p/Cu composites by Ti-activated pressureless infiltration

Sessile drop technique was used to investigate the influence of Ti on the wetting behaviour of copper alloy on SiC substrate. A low contact angle of 15- for Cu alloy on SiC substrate is obtained at the temperature of 1 100 ℃. The interfacial energy is lowered by the segregation of Ti and the formation of reaction product TiC, resulting in the significant enhancement of wettability. Ti is found to almost completely segregate to Cu/SiC interface. This agrees well with a coverage of 99.8%Ti at the Cu/SiC interface predicted from a simple model based on Gibbs adsorption isotherm. SiCp/Cu composites are produced by pressureless infiltration of copper alloy into Ti-activated SiC preform. The volume fraction of SiC reaches 57%. The densification achieves 97.5%. The bending strength varies from 150 MPa to 250 MPa and increases with decreasing particle size.

Infiltration kinetics of pressureless infiltration in SiC_p/Al composites

The pressureless infiltration kinetics was investigated by plotting the infiltration distance as function of the infiltration time. The effects of key process parameters such as time, temperature, Mg content on the pressureless infiltration of silicon carbide particle compacts were studied and quantified. The preform with high volume fraction SiC was obtained by mixing SiC particles with bimodal size distribution, whose diameters are 5 and 50 μm, respectively. The results show that an incubation period exists before infiltration, the influence of temperature on the incubation time exceeds that of Mg content, infiltration rate increases with the increasing temperature and Mg content, infiltration rate decreases as Mg consumes. A model of macroscopical infiltration and microscopical infiltration of liquid alloy in porous SiC preform was proposed.

Effect of porosity on wear resistance of SiC_p/Cu composites prepared by pressureless infiltration

The influence of porosity on the wear behavior of high volume fraction (61%) SiCp/Cu composite produced by pressureless infiltration was studied using a sliding,reciprocating and vibrating(SRV) machine.SiCp/Cu composites slid against hardened GCr15 bearing steel ball in the load range of 40-200 N.The results show that the wear rate increases with increasing porosity.The composite containing low porosity shows excellent wear resistance,which is attributed to the presence of mechanically mixed layer on the worn surface.In this case,the dominant wear mechanism is oxidative wear.Comparatively,the composite containing high porosity exhibits inferior wear resistance.Fracture and spalling of the particles are considered as the main causes of severe wear.Third body abrasion is the controlling wear mechanism.In addition,porosity has more important influence on wear rate at high load than at low load.This is associated with the fact that the fracture and spalling of particles is a process of crack initiation and propagation.At lower load,the pores beneath the worn surface can not propagate significantly,while the pores become unstable and easily propagate under high load,which results in a higher wear rate.

Fabrication and abrasive wear properties of metal matrix composites reinforced with three-dimensional network structure

Reticulated polyurethane was chosen as the preceramic material for preparing the porous preform using the replication process. The immersing and sintering processes were each performed twice for fabricating a high-porosity and super-strong skeleton. The aluminum magnesium matrix composites reinforced with three-dimensional network structure were prepared using the infiltration technique by pressure assisting and vacuum driving. Light interfacial reactions have played a profitable role in most of the ceramic-metal systems. The metal matrix composites interpenetrated with the ceramic phase have a higher wear resistance than the metal matrix phase. The volume fraction of ceramic reinforcement has a significant effect on the abrasive wear, and the wear rate can be decreased with the increase of the volume fraction of reinforcement.

Effect of Mg and Si on infiltration behavior of Al alloys pressureless infiltration into porous SiCp preforms

The effect of Mg and Si additon to Al matrix on infiltration kinetics and rates of Al alloys pressureless infiltration into porous SiCp preform was investigated by observing the change of infiltration distance with time as the Al alloys infiltrate into SiCp preforms at different temperatures.The results show that infiltration of SiCp preforms by Al melt is a thermal activation process and there is an incubation period before the infiltration becomes stable.With the increase of Mg content in the Al alloys from 0wt% to 8wt%,the infiltration will become much easier,the incubation period becomes shorter and the infiltration rate is faster,but these effects are not obvious when the Mg content is higher than 8wt%.As for Si addition to the Al alloys,it has no obvious effect on the incubation period,but the infiltration rate increases markedly with the increase of Si content from 0wt% to 12wt% and the rate has no obvious change when the content is bigger than 12wt%.The effect of Mg and Si on the incubation period is related to the infiltration mechanism of Al pressureless infiltration into SiCp preforms and their impact on the infiltration rate is a combined result from viscosity and surface tension of Al melt and SiC-Al wetting ability.

Preparation of Aluminum Matrix Composite by Pressureless Infiltration Process

he Al_2O_3 particle reinforced aluminum matrix composite was prepared by using a new pressureless infiltration process. The microstructure of (Al_2O_3)p/Al was analyzed. The tension and the thermal conductivity of the composite were studied as well.

Effects of infiltration parameters on mechanical and microstructural properties of tungsten wire reinforced Cu_(47)Ti_(33)Zr_(11)Ni_6Sn_2Si_1 metallic glass matrix composites

Cu47Ti33Zr11Ni6Sn2Si1-based bulk metallic glass matrix composites reinforced with tungsten wires were fabricated by infiltration process at different temperatures （850, 900, 950 and 1000 °C） and time （10, 20 and 30 min） in a quartz or a steel tube. The mechanical tests were carried out by scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and X-ray diffraction （XRD）. The results show that the maximum strength and total strain of the composite are 1778 MPa and 2.8% fabricated in steel tube at 900 °C for 10 min, and 1582 MPa and 3.6% fabricated in quartz tube at 850 °C for 10 min, respectively.

Effect of melt infiltration parameters on microstructure and mechanical properties of tungsten wire reinforced(Cu_(50)Zn_(43)Al_(7))_(99.5)Si_(0.5) metallic glass matrix composite

Using melt infiltration casting at different temperatures （965, 990 and 1015 °C） for different time （10 and 15 min）, the composites of （Cu50Zr43Al7）99.5Si0.5 bulk metallic glass reinforced with tungsten wires were produced. X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and quasi-static compression tests were carried out to evaluate the microstructure and mechanical properties. The results show that the maximum ultimate compressive strength and strain-to-failure of about 1880 MPa and 16.7% were achieved, respectively, at the infiltration temperature of 965 °C for 15 min.

Threshold pressure and infiltration behavior of liquid metal into fibrous preform

A dynamic measuring apparatus was developed to investigate the infiltration process of liquid metal into the fibrous preform. 10% （volume fraction） chopped carbon fiber preforms were infiltrated with magnesium alloy under different infiltration pressures. The threshold pressure and flow behavior of liquid metal infiltrating into the preforms were calculated and measured. The microstructure of obtained Ct4Mg composites was observed. The results indicate that the measured threshold pressure for infiltration was 0.048 MPa, which was larger than the calculated value. The infiltration rate increased with the increase of infiltration pressure, but the increase amplitude decreased gradually. The tiny pores in the composites could be eliminated by increasing the infiltration pressure. When the infiltration pressure rose to 0.6 MPa, high quality C1/Mg composite was obtained.

Interfacial reactions and bending strength of SiC/A356/FeNi50 composite fabricated by gas pressure infiltration

The SiC/A356/FeNi50 composite was fabricated by gas pressure infiltration. The interfacial region of the SiC/A356/FeNi50 composite consisted of FeNi50 reaction layer, A1 reaction layer and A1 alloy matrix. The main intermetallic compounds were （Fe,Ni）a（A1,Sih3 and （Fe,Ni）2（A1,Si）5 at the A1 reaction layer and FeNi50 reaction layer, respectively. The bending behavior versus different infiltration temperatures and holding times was also investigated. The bending strength at 670 ~C was the highest and close to the bending strength of A1 alloy （223 MPa）, and 46% of SIC/A356. The brittle intermetallic compounds existing at the interface induced the decreasing of the bending strength. The pores were reduced by adequate heating time due to the homogeneous temperature of preform, which was beneficial to improve the bending strength of the composite.

Effect of sintering parameters on the microstructure and thermal conductivity of diamond/Cu composites prepared by high pressure and high temperature infiltration

Pure Cu composites reinforced with diamond particles were fabricated by a high pressure and high temperature （HPHT） infiltration technique. Their microstructural evolution and thermal conductivity were presented as a function of sintering parameters （temperature, pressure, and time）. The improvement in interfacial bonding strength and the maximum thermM conductivity of 750 W/（m.K） were achieved at the optimal sintering parameters of 1200℃, 6 GPa and 10 min. It is found that the thermal conductivity of the composites depends strongly on sintering pressure. When the sintering pressure is above 6 GPa, the diamond skeleton is detected, which greatly contributes to the excellent thermal conductivity.

Thermal conductivity of diamond/copper composites with a bimodal distribution of diamond particle sizes prepared by pressure infiltration method

The thermal conductivity of diamond/copper composites with bimodal particle sizes was studied. The composites were prepared through pressure infiltration of liquid copper into diamond preforms with a mixture of 40 and 100 pm-size diamonds. The permeability of the preforms with different coarse-to-fine volume ratios of diamonds was investigated. The thermal conductivity of the diamond/copper composites with bimodal size distribution was compared to the theoretical value derived from an analytical model developed by Chu. It is predicted that the diamond/copper composites could reach a higher thermal conductivity and their surface roughness could be improved by applying bimodal diamond particle sizes.

Effect of graphite powder as a forming filler on the mechanical properties of SiCp/Al composites by pressure infiltration

（38vo1% SiCp ＋ 2vo1% A1203f）/2024 A1 composites were fabricated by pressure infiltration. Graphite powder was introduced as a forming filler in preform preparation, and the effects of the powder size on the microstructures and mechanical properties of the final com- posites were investigated. The results showed that the composite with 15 μm graphite powder as a forming filler had the maximum tensile strength of 506 MPa, maximum yield strength of 489 MPa, and maximum elongation of 1.2%, which decreased to 490 MPa, 430 MPa, and 0.4%, respectively, on increasing the graphite powder size from 15 to 60 μm. The composite with 60 μm graphite powder showed the highest elastic modulus, and the value decreased from 129 to 113 GPa on decreasing the graphite powder size from 60 to 15 μm. The differences between these properties are related to the different microstructures of the corresponding composites, which determine their failure modes.

INFILTRATION KINETICS MODEL OF LIQUID METAL INTO A FIBROUS PREFORM IN CENTRIFUGAL ACCELERATING FIELD

The infiltration kinetics of the metal melt into a fibrous preform in centrifugal accelerating field is analyzed on the basis of Darcy's law and the assumption that the fibrous preform is treated as 'bundle of capillaries' The critical rotating speed is analyzed with the established model The influences of the metal melt mass,the rotating speed of the equipment,the casting height, the original outer radius of the metal melt and the fibrous volume fraction in fibrous preform on infilatration are studied The results show that the critical rotating speed is dependent on critical pressure, casting height, metal melt mass and the character of fibrous preform With the increase in the metal melt mass, rotating speed of the equipment and original outer radius of the metal melt, or the decrease in casting height and fibrous volume fraction in fibrous of the metal melt,or the decrease in casting height and fibrous volume fraction in fibrous preform,infiltration of metal melt for fibrous preform becomes easier.

Experimental determination of threshold pressure and permeability based on equation-solving method for liquid metal infiltration processes

A new method for determining two key parameters(threshold pressure and permeability)for fabricating metal matrix composites was proposed based on the equation-solving method.An infiltration experimental device was devised to measure the infiltration behavior precisely with controllable infiltration velocity.Two experiments with alloy Pb-Sn infiltrating into Al2O3 preform were conducted independently under two different pressures so as to get two different infiltration curves.Two sets of coefficients which are functions of threshold pressure and permeability can be obtained through curve fitting method.By solving the two-variable equation set,two unknown variables were determined.It is shown that the determined threshold pressure and permeability are very close to the calculated ones and are also verified by another independent infiltration experiment.The proposed method is also feasible to determine the key infiltration parameters for other metal matrix composite systems.

Identification of Growth Promoter to Fabrication SiCp/Al₂O₃Ceramic Matrix Composites Prepared by Directed Metal Oxidation of An Al Alloy

SiC particulates reinforced alumina matrix composites were fabricated using Directed Metal Oxidation (DIMOX) process. Continuous oxidation of an Al-Si-Mg-Zn alloy with different interlayers (dopents) as growth promoters, will encompasses the early heating of the alloy ingot, melting and continued heating to temperature in the narrow range of 950°C to 980°C in an atmosphere of oxygen. Varying interlayers (dopents) are incorporated to examine the growth conditions of the composite materials and to identification of suitable growth promoter. The process is extremely difficult because molten aluminum does not oxidize after prolonged duration at high temperatures due to the formation of a passivating oxide layer. It is known that the Lanxide Corporation had used a combination of dopents to cause the growth of alumina from molten metal. This growth was directed, i.e. the growth is allowed only in the required direction and restricted in the other directions. The react nature of the dopants was a trade secret. Though it is roughly known that Mg and Si in the Al melt can aid growth, additional dopents used, the temperatures at which the process was carried out, the experimental configurations that aided directed growth were not precisely known. In this paper we have evaluated the conditions in which composites can be grown in large enough sizes for evaluation application and have arrived at a procedure that enables the fabrication of large composite samples by determining the suitable growth promoter (dopant). Scanning electron microscopic, EDS analysis of the composite was found to contain a continuous network of Al2O3, which was predominantly free of grain-boundary phases, a continuous network of Al alloy. Fabrication of large enough samples was done only by the inventor company and the property measurements by the company were confirmed to those needed to enable immediate applications. Since there are a large number of variable affecting robust growth of the composite, fabrication large sized samples for measurements is a difficult task. In the present work, to identify a suitable window of parameters that enables robust growth of the composite has been attempted.

Microstructure and wear characteristics of ATZ ceramic particle reinforced gray iron matrix surface composites

The alumina toughened zirconia(ATZ) ceramic particle reinforced gray iron matrix surface composite was successfully manufactured by pressureless infi ltration. The porous preform played a key role in the infi ltrating progress. The microstructure was observed by scanning electron microscopy(SEM); the phase constitutions was analyzed by X-ray diffraction(XRD); and the hardness and wear resistance of selected specimens were tested by hardness testing machine and abrasion testing machine, respectively. The addition of high carbon ferrochromium powders leads to the formation of white iron during solidifi cation. The wear volume loss rates of ATZ ceramic particle reinforced gray iron matrix surface composite decreases fi rst, and then tends to be stable. The wear resistance of the composite is 2.7 times higher than that of gray iron matrix. The reason is a combination of the surface hardness increase of gray iron matrix and ATZ ceramic particles and alloy carbides protecting effect on gray iron matrix.