材料期刊网

Investigation has been made on the process of synthesizing SiC/Al co-continuous composite by spontaneous melt infiltration. It is found that nitrogen atmosphere is an indispensable factor for spontaneous infiltration of melt Al into SiC preform with continuous porosity. The critical temperature for spontaneous infiltration occurrence can be lowered and spontaneous infiltration rate increased by doping a small amount of Mg into the Al alloy. Adding fine SiO2 powders into the ceramic preform can play the similar role as Mg-doping by increasing wetting through the chemical reaction of 3SiO(2)+4Al=2Al(2)O(3)+3Si at the infiltration front. Infiltration rate can also be increased by Si-doping to lower the viscosity of the molten Al alloy. In addition, sufficient Si content in the molten Al is also indispensable to avoid the formation of Al4C in the synthesized composite.