AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON INFILTRATION LIMIT AND THE MECHANICAL-PROPERTIES OF AL2O3 SHORT-FIBER-REINFORCED METAL-MATRIX COMPOSITES FABRICATED BY SQUEEZE CASTING

Melt infiltration of fibrous preforms is an attractive fabrication rou te for metal matrix composites. To understand infiltration limits in s queeze casting processes, experimental data are presented for injectio n of aluminum alloy-based melts into preforms of volume fraction 10%-2 3% which were composed of delta-alumina fiber with a silica binder. Ba se alloys used in this study were A16061, A17075, A12024, A1514.0 A356 .0 and pure Al. The infiltration distance and deformation of fiber pre forms were observed with variation to manufacturing parameters such as preform temperature, die temperature, applied pressure and molten met al temperature. Tensile strength and microstructures were also examine d to investigate the effects of processing parameters on infiltration states.