A Theoretical Study of the Pressure for Liquid Metal Infiltration of a Fiber Preform

A theoretical model has been established for calculating the infiltration pressure of metal melt into the preform of ceramic fibers according to the basic principle of hydromechanics. There are three forces acting on the infiltration process in the model, i.e. viscous friction, capillary force, and gravity The effects of the volume fraction of fibers (Vf) and infiltrating depth on the infiltration pressure are discussed. The results show that the infiltration pressure increases with the increase of fiber volume fraction and infiltration depth. There is a linear relationship between infiltration pressure and infiltiation depth. The effect of gravity on the infiltration pressure can be ignored