Development of Hot-Pressing Technology for Production of Aluminum-Based Metal-Matrix Composite Materials

Abstract

A hot-pressing technology for producing aluminum-based metal-matrix composite materials used to manufacture liquid-cooled base plates of electronic modules of active phased antenna arrays (APAA) was developed and tested. The technology involves the following operations: mixing of the starting components, adding of a binder, forming of blanks, hot pressing of the blanks, sintering in a controlled atmosphere, grinding of the sintered blanks, cutting of the blanks to size, coating, and controlling of the material parameters. The curves of the density of SiC–Al composite material versus the isothermal-holding time and the compaction pressure are plotted. It is established that combining hexagonal silicon carbide (6H α-SiC) and aluminum alloy with a silicon content of 7–12%, it is possible to obtain a SiC–Al composite with a thermal conductivity of up to 240 W/(m·K).