Carbon Long Fiber Reinforced Aluminum Matrix Composites - Parameter Studies and Numerical Simulations of the Infiltration Process

The development of a production technique to infiltrate carbon fiber yarns with aluminum in a cold chamber die casting machine was reported. The mold temperature was as high as possible as the temperature of the mould plays a significant role in preventing premature freezing of the melt during the fiber infiltration. The fibers were heated up to temperatures similar to the temperature of the melt to avoid premature freezing of the melt during the infiltration process. The evaluation of the macroscopic infiltration quality was based on two criteria, the area of infiltrated fiber bundles Ainf and the maximum infiltration length Linf. The area of infiltrated fiber bundles, expressed in percent of the total specimen area, was obtained using threshold analysis. The investigation of the process parameters and their influence on the infiltration behavior showed that the heat balance played a major role in achieving a good infiltration quality.