Introduction to Metal Matrix Composites

Yoshinori Nishida

Introduction to Metal Matrix Composites

Fabrication and Recycling

Yoshinori Nishida National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) Nagoya, Japan (retired in 2002)

Original Japanese edition published by CORONA PUBLISHING CO., LTD. KINZOKUKI FUKUGOZAIRYO NYUMON Copyright # 2001 Yoshinori Nishida ISBN 978-4-431-54236-0 ISBN 978-4-431-54237-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-4-431-54237-7 Springer Tokyo Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London
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Preface

All materials for aerospace, energy conversion systems, and preservation of the environment are being assessed, and the demand for light materials is increasing. Light metals have some drawbacks, however, and to improve these weak areas, light and strong composites have been developed by strengthening light metals by ceramic bers or particles. Most studies of metal matrix composites (MMCs) are related to the evaluation of composite properties, and few are related to fabrication processes. Once a new composite was developed, research on the evaluation of the composite became very active. Some research on fabrication processes has been carried out, but it was very difcult to discuss many fabrication processes fundamentally and systematically. At an early stage, MMCs such as sintered aluminum products (SAP) and second-phase reinforced eutectic alloys obtained by unidirectional solidication were developed without mixing reinforcements into matrix metals by mechanical means. After the development of mixing techniques, by which ceramic bers or particles were dispersed in matrix metals, the research on evaluation of those composites became very active and many papers about it have been published. Many of those have been concerned with continuous bers in particular. The bonding strength at the ber/matrix interface and properties of composites are closely related to fabrication conditions. Therefore, the history of constituent materials during fabrication should be taken into account to enhance the reliability of property data of composites. Nevertheless, when the property of composites was discussed, the fabrication process was made light of. In one case, when a composite is commercialized, rst a composite billet is fabricated and from the billet a composite product is formed by a mechanical process such as machining, a plastic deformation process, or casting. In another case, composite fabrication and shaping of the product are performed at the same time by one operation. The latter will be better than the former from the point of view of production efciency and energy efciency. The fabrication process is very important for industrial application. In addition, we can achieve high productivity and reliability of composite products by determining the optimum production condition and by controlling that

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Preface

condition. However, the fabrication process has been treated as only a technique and has not been investigated scientically. To date, most monographs on MMCs have been edited for graduate students and professional researchers. These monographs deal mainly with mechanics, which is not easy for other students to understand. Now it is time to promote the commercialization of MMCs. A book that will serve as a useful introduction to MMCs is needed for researchers and industrial engineers who are engaged in developing new materials. Therefore, this book was written to systematically discuss in an easy-to-understand manner the research work that has been carried out until now and to help researchers in industry to develop composite products in expectation of further advances in MMCs. The discussion is plainly written to engage the interest of many people in MMCs and is not difcult even for undergraduate students to understand. This book includes not only processing but also the properties of composites as an introduction to MMCs for readers who want to explore the subject further. The fundamental knowledge necessary to understand MMCs is explained in Chap. 1. Major fabrication processes, except the pressure inltration process by squeeze casting and centrifugal casting, are described in Chap. 2. The fabrication process by squeeze casting is explained in Chap. 3, because the process is very important to understand the wetting phenomenon between reinforcement and molten metal. The theory of pressure inltration by squeeze casting is discussed in Chap. 4. The centrifugal casting of metal matrix composites is discussed in Chap. 5, and the properties of composites are discussed in Chap. 6. The superplasticity of composites as a recent topic is introduced in Chap. 7. The production processes of reinforcement materials for composites are briey explained in Chap. 8, and fundamental ideas of recycling of composites are discussed in Chap. 9 to meet the demands of the times. Thanks are due to Dr. Toshio Yamauchi, who was my co-worker on the pressure inltration process which occupies the most important part of Chap. 4. I am grateful to Professors Shojiro Ochiai of Kyoto University (Fig. 6.15) and Sumio Nagata of Fukuoka University (Figs. 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5) for permission to reproduce gures. Finally, I would like to express my thanks to Professor Yutaka Kagawa of The University of Tokyo, Professor Karl U. Kainer of the GKSS Research Centre Geesthacht, and Professor Chitoshi Masuda and Professor Makoto Yoshida of Waseda University for their very constructive discussions. This book is based on the Japanese edition of my book Kinzokuki Fukugozairyo Nyumon, published by Corona Publishing Co., Ltd., Tokyo. Most of the digital les of the original gures were provided by the publisher. Aichi, Japan Yoshinori Nishida

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Classication and Characteristics of Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.1 Classication of Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.2 Characteristics of Metal Matrix Composites . . . . . . . . . . 1.1.3 Examples of Metal Matrix Composite Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Rule of Mixtures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 Surface Energy and Interface Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 Thermodynamics on Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5 Wettability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6 Darcys Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fabrication Processes for Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Aspects of Fabrication of Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 Energy of Fabrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.2 Fabrication of Composites by Mechanical Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3 Mechanical Work and Wetting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Classication of Fabrication Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Comparison of Fabrication Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 Solid State Fabrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.1 Powder Metallurgical Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.2 Mechanical Alloying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.3 Diffusion Bonding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.4 Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 Liquid State Fabrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5.1 Vortex Addition Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5.2 Compo-Casting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5.3 Pressureless Inltration Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5.4 Ultrasonic Inltration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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1 2 2 3 4 9 11 16 19 23 25 27 27 27 31 32 34 34 35 35 38 39 40 41 41 43 44 45
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2.6

Gaseous State Fabrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6.1 CVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6.2 PVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.7 In Situ Fabrication Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.7.1 Internal Oxidation Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.7.2 Unidirectional Solidication Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Fabrication by Squeeze Casting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Application of Pressure and Fabrication Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Threshold Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 Case of Random Reinforcement Distribution . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 Case of Unidirectional Fiber Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.3 Measurement of Threshold Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Inuence of Preheating of Preform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 Microscopic Analysis of Fluid Flow in Preforms . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

46 46 47 48 48 49 50 53 54 56 56 57 58 58 61 64 67 67 68 72 88 89 89

Theory of Pressure Inltration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Macroscopic Analysis of Fluid Flow in Preforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.1 Analysis on the Assumption of Constant Preform Surface Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.2 Inltration Velocity Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Inltration Stop Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Characteristics of Pressure Inltration Method and Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Centrifugal Casting of Metal Matrix Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Inltration of Molten Metal Using Centrifugal Force . . . . . . . . . 5.1.1 Pressure Generated at the Surface of Preform . . . . . . . . . 5.1.2 Inltration Start Pressure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.3 Inltration of Molten Metal into the Preform . . . . . . . . . 5.1.4 Example Calculations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.5 Examples of Composites Fabricated Using Centrifugal Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Centrifugal Casting of Particle Dispersed Molten Metal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Properties of Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 Mechanical Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.1 Elastic Modulus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.2 Strength of Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.3 Fracture of Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. 91 . 91 . 92 . 95 . 95 . 100 . 105 . 108 . 111 . . . . . 113 114 114 120 130

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6.2

Physical Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.1 Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.2 Specic Heat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.3 Thermal Conductivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.4 Thermal Expansion Coefcient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3 Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4 New Trends in MMCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.1 Carbon/Metal Composites with High Thermal Conductivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.2 Smart Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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138 138 139 140 142 147 148

. 148 . 149 . 150 . 155 . 155 . 156 . 157 . 158 . 159 . 163 . 165 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 168 168 169 175 178 181 182 183 183 186 187 189 189

Superplasticity of Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 Background for Superplasticity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Mechanism of Superplastic Forming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.1 Superplastic Deformation Mechanism of Alloys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.2 Superplastic Deformation Mechanism of Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3 Production Methods of Superplastic Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Materials for the Fabrication of Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1 Characteristics of Reinforcements and Matrix Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2 Production Processes for Reinforcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.1 Ceramic Particles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.2 Ceramic Fibers and Carbon Fibers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.3 Ceramic Whiskers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Recycling of Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1 Composite Ratio in Products and Re-melting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 Separation of Fibers or Particles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.1 State of Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.2 Mechanical Separation of Reinforcements . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.3 Chemical Separation of Reinforcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3 Separation of Fiber and Metal from Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.1 Chemical Method and Ratio of Separation . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3.2 Phenomena Associated with Separation Using Fluxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.4 Entropy of Mixing by the Addition of Reinforcement Particles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. 192 . 194

Contents

Entropy of Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Entropy Increase upon the Addition of Particles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5 Assessment of Metal Matrix Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

9.4.1 9.4.2

. 195 . 195 . 199 . 200

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201