1. Processing of Mullite-Aluminum Composites
- Author
-
Raji Soundararajan, Gabe Kuhn, Raj Atisivan, Susmita Bose, and Amit Bandyopadhyay
- Subjects
Materials science ,Fabrication ,Composite number ,chemistry.chemical_element ,Mullite ,Aluminium silicate ,Microstructure ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,chemistry ,Aluminium ,Chemical vapor infiltration ,visual_art ,Materials Chemistry ,Ceramics and Composites ,visual_art.visual_art_medium ,Ceramic ,Composite material - Abstract
Interconnected-phase mullite-aluminum metal-ceramic composites were processed using the indirect fused-deposition process. In this process, controlled-porosity ceramic preforms were fabricated via the lost-mold process. The molds were designed with computer aided design (CAD) software and fabricated using a fused-deposition modeling (FDM) technique. Porous ceramic preforms were infiltrated with aluminum metal, via pressureless reactive metal infiltration, to form the mullite-aluminum composites. Both the macrostructures and the microstructures of the composites were controlled via CAD and FDM. During metal infiltration, the mullite phase transformed to α-alumina, and an alumina-aluminum composite formed. This paper describes the mullite-to-alumina phase transformation during reactive metal infiltration of the porous preforms, as a function of processing variables.