Fabrication of Co-Continuous ceramic composite (C4) through gas pressure infiltration technique

Abstract

Co-Continuous Ceramic Composites (C4) have been fabricated through gas pressure infiltration technique with SiC foam reinforcement of 10PPI and 20PPI, and with AA5083 alloy as matrix. The fabricated composites (C4) were tested for mechanical properties at static condition. This study delineates the effect of pores per inch (PPI) of SiC foams on the mechanical properties of the composite. The 10PPI C4 composite with highest content of AA5083 (81%) exhibited a compressive strength of 131 MPa, 5% greater than 20PPI C4 composite. The C4 composite displayed 65 times higher compressive strength than SiC foam (~2 MPa). The compression failure mode was found to be shear failure and vertical splitting, with the SiC foam failing first,followed by failure of AA5083. A positive correlation was observed between the compressive strength and hardness of the composite, where 10PPI composite exhibits 56 BHN, and 20PPI with 50 BHN. Additionally, microstructural analysis was performed to characterize the interface morphology of SiC foam and AA5083 alloy.