A Novel Manufacturing Process for Lightweight Alloy Composites

汽车和航空航天工业对高温轻质铝合金复合材料的需求日益增长，为生产高性价比的复合材料零件，要求其具有令人满意的性能。本项目提出了一种新的制备轻质合金复合材料的方法，即通过原位生成平衡增强相，而不生成任何亚稳相。本研究项目的主要目标包括：(1)无中间亚稳相形成的平衡碳化硅、氮化硅和金属硅化物增强铝合金复合材料的加工；(2)材料变量(如前驱体、成分)和工艺变量(如时间、温度、熔体成分和搅拌条件)的优化；(3)复合材料熔体热力学性质的模拟；(4)复合材料形成的反应速率和机理的确定。对复合材料的高温氧化和硫化进行了研究。实验将在放置在电阻加热炉恒温区的氧化铝坩埚中进行。这项工作有望对复合材料界面反应中稳定相形成和控制的动力学和热力学有更新的理解。这些研究的结果有望最终导致开发一种创新的、具有成本效益的商业复合材料生产方法。

The increasing need for high-temperature lightweight aluminum alloy composites in the automobile and aerospace industries requires satisfactory performance for cost-effective production of the composite parts. A new method for the production of lightweight alloy composites through in-situ formation of equilibrium reinforcement phases, without any metastable phase formation is proposed in this project. The principal objectives of this research project include: (1) processing of equilibrium silicon carbide, silicon nitride and metal silicide reinforced aluminum alloy composites without any intermediate metastable phase formations; (2) optimization of materials variables such as precursor, compositions and the process variables such as time , temperature, composition of melts, and the stirring conditions; (3) modeling of thermodynamic properties of the composite melts; and, (4) determination of reaction rates and mechanism of the composites formation. High temperature oxidation and sulfidation of the composites will be investigated. The experiments will be performed in an alumina crucible placed in the constant temperature zone of resistance heating furnace. This work is expected to generate a newer understanding of the kinetics and thermodynamics of stable phase formation and control in composites interface reactions. The results of these studies are expected to ultimately lead to the development of an innovative cost-effective method of producing composites for commerce.