The chemical vapor deposition technique has been used for the experimental
simulation of the interfacial reactions in titanium matrix, silicon carbide
reinforced, metal matrix composites (MMCs). Silicon and/or carbon containi
ng thin films have been deposited on titanium substrates. The resulting dif
fusion couples have been given long term, high temperature treatments corre
sponding to operating conditions at the limits of Ti-based MMCs. The interf
acial microstructures produced by these treatments have been investigated b
y different techniques and were successfully compared to those ones in the
real Ti matrix MMCs. This new approach allows for a rapid, economic and eas
y-to-use evaluation technique and contributes to the optimization of the in
terfacial characteristics in composite materials. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science
S.A. All rights reserved.