Manufacturing Knowledge Base

With a continuous infiltration process, fiber-reinforced aluminum wires with 1.5 mm outside diameter, lengths up to 200 m and volume fractions of 35 to 60% have been successfully produced. As reinforcement, different ceramic fibers like Nextal 610, Nextel 440 and Altex and also carbon fibers, such as Thornel P-25, have been used. The matrix material is aluminum. Investigations show high infiltration quality and a good fiber distribution. The tensile strengths of all ceramic fiber reinforced wires are within the expectations from the rule of mixture. For the carbon fiber reinforced composite wires even high values were measured. Authors: M. Doktor (Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria), H. P. Degischer (Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria), J. Blucher (Northwestern University, Boston, MA).