CENTRIFUGALLY CAST-ALUMINUM MATRIX COMPOSITES CONTAINING SEGREGATED ALUMINA FIBERS

The centrifugal casting process was adopted in this study to realize higher V//f, longer fibers and favorable fiber alignment with respect to applied stress at the outer periphery of hollow cylindrical metallic matrix composites. A molten Al-4. 2 percent Cu-0. 5 percent Mg alloy (density 2. 4 Mg m** minus **3 at 973 K) was superheated to 1123 K, degassed, and poured into the cup at the top of the casting apparatus. Centrifugal force was applied to in filtratethe fibrous preform with molten metal and to cause the fibers to segregate. The bending strength of samples for which V//f equals 30 percent was 96 percent higher than that of an unreinforced Al alloy. 8 Refs.