CENTRIFUGAL INFILTRATION OF PREFORMS BY MOLTEN ALUMINUM ALLOYS TO FORM ALUMINUM-CARBON FIBER COMPOSITES

IN THIS PROJECT ANALYTICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH WILL BECONDUCTED ON CENTRIFUGAL INFILTRATION OF CARBON FIBER PREFORMS BY MOLTEN ALUMINUM ALLOYS TO FORM TUBES OF ALUMINUM-CARBON FIBER COMPOSITES. MODELING WILL BE DONE TO DERIVE THE OPTIMUM SURFACE TREATMENT OF FIBER PREFORM AND INFILTRATION CONDITIONS. A FEW SELECTED EXPERIMENTS WILL BECONDUCTED TO CENTRIFUGALLY INFILTRATE CARBON FIBER PREFORMS WITH A SELECTED ALUMINUM ALLOY AND THE FORMED COMPOSITE TUBES WILL BE EXAMINED USING OPTICAL AND ELECTRON MICROSCOPYTO CHECK FIBER DISTRIBUTION, POROSITY AND BONDING. THE VARIABLES STUDIED WOULD INCLUDE PREFORM, SURFACE TREATMENT AND TEMPERATURE. LIMITED TESTING OF TUBULAR COMPOSITES WILLBE CONDUCTED TO DEMONSTRATE THE INTEGRITY AND ADVANTAGEOUS PROPERTIES OF THESE STRUCTURES. AMALGA HAS ALREADY DEMONSTRATED THAT FIBER PREFORMS CAN BE SUCCESSFULLY ENCAPSULATED AND PARTIALLY INFILTRATED BY CENTRIFUGING MOLTEN MAGNESIUM ALLOYS AND THIS KNOWLEDGE BASE WILL BE APPLIED TO THE PROPOSED PROJECT.