SiCp/Cu composites prepared by pressureless infiltration of copper into porous SiC preforms

SiCp/Cu composites with high reinforcement content (56–65 vol.-%) were fabricated by spontaneously infiltrating copper alloy into porous SiC preform obtained by powder injection moulding. The main influencing factors of the preparation of the preform and the infiltration behaviour of various preforms were studied. The results indicate that the viscosity increases with an increase in powder loading or decreases with an increase in particle size. The feedstocks with bimodal mixture exhibit low viscosity due to the improvement in packing efficiency. When small particles or bimodal mixture with large size ratio were used, the preforms were difficult to be fully infiltrated. The preforms debound in air exhibit lower infiltration rate than the ones debound in vacuum due to the reduction of porosity and the poor wettability between the oxidised layer and copper alloy. Kinetic analysis on the infiltration curves yielded activation energies of 253 kJ mol–1.