Microstructure and thermo-mechanical properties of SiCp/Al composites prepared by pressureless infiltration

Abstract

In this paper, SiCp/Al composites with high reinforcement content are fabricated by pressureless infiltration with aluminum alloy into porous SiC preforms obtained by cold press forming. Microstructures and particulate distributions are analyzed with scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectrometer. The reinforcement volume fraction reaches 65 % by using bimodal particle distributions. The bending strength ranges from 320 to 342 MPa, depending on particle sizes. Due to the intrinsically low thermal conductivity of the matrix, the thermal conductivity of SiCp/Al composites are in the range of 121–143 W m−1 K−1.