Composites Science and Technology 58 (1998) 369-376

mc 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

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ELSEVIER

THERMAL

EXPANSION BEHAVIOR OF PARTICULATE

METAL-MATRIX
COMPOSITES

S. Elomari,a
aSpacecraft Engineering,

M. D. Skibo,b A. Sundarrajan

Canadian Space Agency, 6767 route de Ideroport.

MC-21

Department

of Materials

& H. Richards

Incorporated,

Saint-Hubert,

J3 Y 8Y9, Canada

San Diego, California 92121, USA

Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA

(Received 16 July 1996; revised 30 May 1997; accepted 3 July 1997)

Abstract

nature, volume fraction and morphology of the reinforcement in the composite, many applications of aluminummatrix composites require controlled thermal-expansion
characteristics in order to match those of other components. A low CTE and high thermal conductivity are
desirable for applications such as electronic heat sinks
and space structures. Furthermore, a low density is
desirable for aerospace applications, particularly electrical structural applications. Conventional metals for
electronic packaging applications include copper, aluminum, Ni-Fe alloys, and Cu-W and Cu-MO blends;
however, these materials do not meet the requirements
in advanced electronic packaging applications for low
CTE, high thermal conductivity, low density and low
cost.
With these considerations in mind, Sic-particle-reinforced aluminum-matrix composites are receiving the
most attention as potential candidates for a variety of
uses in advanced electronic packaging. As shown in
Table 1, the Sic particles, which are available in different structures from inexpensive raw material sources,
exhibit low density, low CTE, high Youngs modulus,
and are commercially available in a particle size range
from 1 to 80 pm. The thermal conductivity, K, of Sic is
in the range 80 to 200 W m-l K-, depending on purity
and processing conditions.
Aluminum alloys reinforced with Sic particles offer
many distinct advantages over conventional materials
used for electronic packaging because of the following
considerations:

Aluminum-matrix
composites containing thermally oxidized Sic particles of controlled diameter ranging from 3
to 40pm have been produced successfully by vacuumassisted high-pressure infiltration. Their thermal-expansion coefficients (CTEs) were measured between 25 and
500 C with a high-precision thermal mechanical analyser
(TMA),
and compared with the predictions of various
theoretical models. The thermal-expansion
behavior of
the three-phase Al/SiC/SiOz
composite shows no signtficant deviation from the predictions of elastic analysis,
since the measured CTEs lie within the elastic bounds
derived by Schaperys analysis. The effect of particle size
is quite evident in the pressure-infiltrated
composites: the
larger the particles, the greater the thermal expansion of
the composite. The observed behavior of these composites
is discussed in terms of particle size, silica layer formed
during oxidation, and thermal stresses developed as a
result of the CTE mismatch between the reinforcement
and the matrix. 0 1998 Published by Elsevier Science
Ltd. All rights reserved
Keywords:
A. metal-matrix composites, B. thermal
properties, E. casting, SIC particles, oxidation

1 INTRODUCTION
Metal-matrix composites (MM&) has been identified as
attractive materials for a wide range of applications in
structural design, mechanical systems and electronic
packaging. Aluminum alloys reinforced with various
ceramics such as Sic and A1203 are a unique class of
advanced composite materials developed for use in
aerospace and commercial applications. Compared with
unreinforced
metals,
MMCs
exhibit
significant
improvements in strength and elastic modulus,-3 wear
resistance,4 fatigue resistance5 and damping capacity,6
in addition to high-temperature mechanical properties7
and low thermal expansion.*
Since the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) of
metal-matrix composites can be tailored by varying the

The CTE for Al-lo% Si alloys with 55 to 75 ~01%

of SIC reinforcement falls in the range 6.4 to
9.2x low6 K-. These values approach the CTE of
electronic materials such as silicon (4.1 x lop6 K-t)
or gallium arsenide (5.8 x 10m6K-t).
Recently, several low-cost manufacturing techniques have been developed such as powder-metallurgy processing, compocasting
and squeeze
casting. The die-casting technique has recently
been applied to investigate the possibility of fabricating metal-matrix composites. Among these
369

S. Elomari

370

Table 1. Properties of reinforcement particles and aluminum

matrix

SIC
Al

Density
&cm-?

Elastic
moc$l;ls
a

3.2
2.1

450
70

CTE
(XlO~6C)
~.
4.1
23

Thermal
conductivity
(W m-i K-)
8&200
180-230

fabrication methods, the squeeze-casting

technique
appears to be most effective in that it is well suited
for mass production
and is a relatively
simple
process for manufacturing
near-net-shape
composites of complex geometries. Furthermore,
recent
advances
in pressure-assisted
infiltration9
have
enabled the fabrication
of aluminum-matrix
composites with significantly greater concentrations
of
Sic particles (up to 65%).
The present investigation
was undertaken
with the
objective of studying the thermal expansion behavior of
isotropic metal-matrix
composites
reinforced with SIC
particles. In this work, composites having a matrix of
high-purity
aluminum
and containing
oxidized
SIC
reinforcements
ranging from 3 to 40um in size were
produced successfully by using the high-pressure
infiltration technique. The coefficient of thermal expansion
of the MMCs was measured between 25 and 500C by a
high-precision
thermal mechanical analyser (TMA), and
compared
with the predictions
of three theoretical
models.

2 EXPERIMENTAL

et al.
2.2 Metal-matrix composites production by bighpressure infiltration
The high-pressure
vacuum-assisted
infiltration
technique is a method for fabricating
metal-matrix
composites, where the application
of a high pressure forces
molten metal into a porous preform made of a particulate reinforcement.
The thickness of the preform used in
this study was 30mm. The procedure of preform fabrication can be outlined as follows. First, SIC particles
were packed by hand into a boat made of Fiberfraxa
board. Stirring by an impeller was performed to establish a uniform particle distribution.
Finally, oxidation of
the particles in air under programmed
heating and isothermal conditions
was carried out at 1300C. The
temperature
in the hot zone was kept constant to within
* 1C. As the preforms used in this study were fabricated with different particle sizes, the oxidation
time
ranged from 120 to 240 min.
The matrix was 99.9% initial purity aluminum
from
ALCOA@ (Trademark,
Aluminum
Company of America, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania).
The composites
were
fabricated by vacuum infiltration
of a liquid metal into
a porous preform under high pressure. Preforms were
infiltrated
with pure aluminum
by using the squeezecasting press shown in Fig. 1. The apparatus consists of
a steel die containing
a cylinder in which a steel piston
travels. The piston is centered above the cylinder with a
steel ring. The interior of the cylinder was lined with a
tube of graphite foil and Fiberfraxa
insulation. Pressure
is provided by an RC-1010 ENERPAC
hydraulic ram.
A vacuum line at the bottom of the die permits application of a vacuum during infiltration.
The preform and the aluminum
were heated separately to 800C. The procedure consisted of dropping the

PROCEDURES

2.1 Oxidation of particulate SIC

Measurements
of the oxidation kinetics of Sic particles
in air at 1 atm were carried out in a TGA 2950 thermogravimetric
analyser which afforded weight changes as
functions of time and temperature.
Four particulate SIC
materials from two suppliers, with controlled diameters
in the range 3 to 40 urn, were used. Oxidation data with
exceptional
weight sensitivity
(less than 1 ug) were
obtained
isothermally
at 1300C by using sample
weights of 100mg. The TGA system operates on a nullbalance principle, by using a highly sensitive transducer
coupled to a taut-band
suspension
system to detect
minute changes in the mass of a sample. Heating rate
and sample temperature
are measured by the thermocouple located immediately
adjacent
to the sample.
Data analysis software was used to determine
weight
changes as a function of time at 1300C. The surface
appearance
of the various particles before and after
oxidation in the TGA was observed in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and qualitative
analyses of the
surface composition
were investigated
by means of
energy-dispersive
X-ray analysis (EDAX).

Upper platen

King centring
Piston
Die
f-t-t

Fiberfrax
Preform
c

Tl

Vacuum
Pump

Fig. 1. Schematic illustration

of the pressure infiltration unit.

Thermal expansion behavior of particulate metal-matrix composites

boat made of Fiberfraxm containing the preform into

the die preheated to 25OC, and then immediately
pouring the aluminum over it. The piston was inserted
and the vacuum and pressure applied simultaneously.
The molten metal was infiltrated into the preform under
34 MPa. The relatively cold die resulted in rapid cooling
of the metal and the composite was therefore solidified
under pressure.
The composite samples were cut along their length on
a low-speed diamond saw with ethanol as a lubricant.
Metallography was performed on the Al/Sic composites by grinding the samples with a 200grit perforated
diamond wheel. Samples were then polished with 15 pm,
6 pm and 3 pm Buehler Metad@ (Lake Bluff, Illinois)
diamond suspension on Buehler Metlap lo@ spiral polishing platens. Samples were washed with water and
ethanol between polishing steps. Finally, samples were
polished for approximately 10min on a Buehler Chemomet@ polishing cloth with Buehler Master-met@ polishing compound.
Scanning electron
microscope
examination of the polished composite was performed
on a Jeol 840 microscope equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. The volume fractions of the Sic
particles were measured with an IBAS2 image analyser
system attached to an optical microscope.
2.3 TMA test
Specimens for CTE testing, lOmmx5 mmx2mm
in
size, were machined from the prepared MMC samples.
Specimen surfaces were polished with 1 pm diamond
paste. More than four samples of each composite were
tested under each condition to verify the reproducibility
of the data.
CTE measurements were performed from 25C to
500C at 5Cmin-
with a commercial thermal
mechanical analysis equipment (model TMA 2940, Du
Pont, USA). The thickness of the samples was measured
with increased sensitivity (0.1 pm) by using the standard
expansion probe. The sample is positioned on a quartz
stage and a moveable probe is placed on the top of the
sample. The thermal expansion of the specimen was
detected by a linear variable differential transformer

Fig. 2. Oxidation

behavior

@I

Time (min)

of particulate

SiC

371

(LVDT) attached to the probe. The furnace, surrounding the sample stage and probe, provides heating/cooling during the measurement. A thermocouple adjacent
to the sample monitors sample temperature so that the
dimensional change can be followed as a function of
temperature. The data were obtained in the form of
PLC (per cent linear change) versus temperature curves.
Standard TMA data analysis software was used to
evaluate the coefficient of thermal expansion of the
composites tested. The CTE is determined at intervals
of 50C on the basis of the calculated slope fit between
two selected temperatures on the PLC versus temperature curve.

3 RESULTS
3.1 Characterization of oxidized Sic particles
Oxidation data in air for the silicon carbide particles are
shown in Fig. 2(a), and (b) illustrates the variation in
thickness of the silica layer, as determined by SEM
analysis, with particle size. In each case the per cent
mass gain of 100mg samples at 1300C is plotted as a
function of time. The results indicate that the weight
gain curves for these materials obeyed parabolic kinetics, as expected for a process whose rate is controlled by
diffusion through a growing oxide layer.O However, the
oxidation proceeds at a very high rate for smaller particles (3-10 pm) after a short exposure to air at 1300C.
The SEM micrograph of the oxidized Sic particles
[Fig. 3(b)], as compared with that of unoxidized particles [Fig. 3(a)], shows that the Sic particles have been
cemented together by the viscous silica glass formed by
the oxidation reaction. The large reinforcements (2040 pm) exhibited less coalescence than the other materials. In contrast, some fusion of the smaller particles
(3 pm) was observed and SiOZ droplets could be identified on many of the particles surfaces after the oxidation at 1300C. The particulate silicon carbide showed
extensive coarsening following this oxidation exposure
and clear evidence of bonding of the particles by the
glassy silica phase. After oxidation at 1300C. even for

(b)

Particle size (pm)

in air at 1300C: (a) mass gain versus time for various particle
SiOz layer as a function of particle size.

sizes, (b) thickness

of

S. Elomari et al.

372

Fig. 3. Appearance of 40 pm SIC particles: (a) as-received condition, (b) after oxidation treatment
periods of 2 h, the small particles of 3 pm size were
found to have fused into a bonded network as a result
of the flow of the silica glass from particle to particle.
3.2 Composite characterization
Figure 4 shows SEM micrographs
of polished sections
of the Sic/Al composites.
Pressure infiltration
of the
oxidized preforms produced composites in which most
of the material appeared
to be free of porosity and
macroscopically
homogeneous;
thus these composites
are expected to have isotropic properties. There was no
sign of interfacial
reaction between the reinforcement
and the matrix. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)
combined with EDAX in the SEM revealed no second
phases either in the matrix or near the matrix/reinforcement interfaces. The volume fraction of silicon carbide in the composites
was determined
via image
analysis to be in the range 0.54 to 0.56. The experimental uncertainty
of these measurements
is estimated
to be about 2%, hence the volume fraction is essentially
constant within the experimental
error at 0.55.
3.3 Thermal expansion
The thermal
expansion
results,
as a function
of
temperature,
for the different composites
containing

Fig. 4. Microstructures

oxidized SIC particles are shown in Fig. 5, which represents the average of four tests. In general, the thermal
cycling experiments produced no conclusive evidence of
thermal ratcheting
in any of the materials during two
cycles. Upon subsequent
heat-up, in cycle 2, the SiCparticle-reinforced
aluminum
composite
shows very
similar behavior to that in cycle 1; the only difference is
a more gradual increase in CTE at high temperature.
This feature has its origin in the thermal
stresses
induced in the matrix because of the difference between
the CTEs of the matrix and reinforcing ceramic particles.
As shown in Fig. 5, the effect of particle size is quite evident in the case of the composite reinforced with oxidized reinforcement.
The larger the particles, the greater
is the thermal expansion at a particular temperature.
Figure 6 shows the coefficient of thermal expansion
values as a function
of temperature
for each of the
composites tested. As expected from Fig. 5, the composite reinforced with larger oxidized particles shows consistently higher CTE than the composite
containing
smaller oxidized particles. It is evident that the CTE is
decreased by the oxidation process which is consistent
with the thermogravimetric
analysis shown in Fig. 2; the
smaller the particle size, the greater the degree of oxidation of the ceramic particles.

of infiltrated Sic/Al metal-matrix composites: (a) oxidized 40 pm SIC particles, (b) oxidized 3 Frn SIC particles.

Thermal expansion behavior of particulate metal-matrix composites

0.8 1

0.7 -.

!i

,articlelrize : 3 um

j.................

0.6 _...............

.......

100

(a)

"0

100

Id
Fig. 5. Per

200
300
Temperature

200
300
Temperature

0.8

:
.._ ._....)
......_

400
(C)

400
CC)

0.7 _

d.cd_.
,3........
f!F$!!!;

j
.;.._............ 0.6 _.._......-...............

300

500

600

100

600

;
..____.____
+

i ............__..
___.._.._..

406

500

600

Temperature (C)

500

200

373

0
(d)

100

200

300

400

500

600

Temperature CC)

cent linear change (PLC) versus temperature for composites reinforced with oxidized SIC particles of various sizes: (a)
3 urn, (b) 10 urn, (c) 20 urn, (d) 40 urn.

4 DISCUSSION
4.1 Theoretical models
The CTE of a metal-matrix
composite is relatively difficult to predict precisely because it is influenced by several factors including matrix plasticity and the internal
structure of the composite,
which typically consists of
particles or fibers embedded
in a continuous
metallic
matrix.

RI3 pmEil0

pmm20 pm040

pm

The composites
used in this work are random and
isotropic. Despite the presence of a two-layer structure
for the oxidized particles, SiOZ and Sic, we assume that
both the matrix and the reinforcement
phases are linearly elastic over a small range of volumetric strains and
can be treated individually
as homogeneous
phases. In
the theoretical models to be described, it is assumed that
the interfacial shear strength at the interface is adequate
to avoid interface failure.
Several theoretical
analyses have been presented
in
the literature giving expressions for the CTE of metalmatrix composites; these are reviewed inm3. Of these,
the simplest and most often used are those of Kerner,
Schapery and Turner.
4.1.1 Kerners model
The Kerner model assumes that the reinforcement
is
spherical and wetted by a uniform layer of matrix; thus
the CTE of the composite is stated to be identical to
that of a volume element composed of a spherical reinforcement particle surrounded
by a shell of matrix, both
phases having the volume fractions present in the composite. This model gives the composite CTE as:

50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

Temperature
Fig. 6.

(C)

Coefficient of thermal expansion versus temperature

for infiltrated composites.

CQ = a! + VP( 1 - VP) (or - cr,)

KP - K,
x (1 - VP)&, + VPKP+ (3K,,K,/4G,,,)

(1)

374

S. Elomari et al.

where the rule-of-mixtures

value is given by a= (1
- V&rm + VP+ K and G are the bulk and shear moduli,
respectively,
V is the volume fraction, and a! is the coefficient of thermal expansion. The subscripts c, p and m
stand for the composite,
particle and matrix, respectively. The bulk modulus is calculated from the standard relationship:
E
K = 3(3 - E/G)

4.1.2 Schaperys model

Among the several formulae that have been suggested
for calculation
of the thermal-expansion
coefficient of
composite
materials
taking into account
the stress
interaction
between components
is that of Schapery,
who has derived the effective CTE of isotropic composites by employing
extremum principles of thermoelasticity. The CTE value can be written as:

Ly, = (Yp +

(a, - up)

(l/Kc) - (l/K,)
(l/Km) - (l/K,)

(3)

where a, and KC are the CTE and bulk modulus of the

composite. Note that ay, depends on the volume fraction
and phase geometry only through their effect on bulk
modulus. This equation provides an exact relationship
between composite CTE and bulk modulus. However,
only the upper and lower bounds of KC are known in a
given case (Hashins boundsi4) and, thus, this expression will only provide bounds on the CTE. The lower
bound on bulk modulus is:

tic-=K,,,+

--!-+
K,-K,

VP

vm

(4)

K,,,+:G,n

The upper bound is obtained

by interchanging
the
indices m and p everywhere. The lower bound on KC
yields the upper bound on the composite CTE shown in
eqn (1) (and vice versa). It is noteworthy
that this upper
bound of composite
CTE was shown by Schapery to
coincide with the CTE value determined
from Kerners
model. This is not surprinsing
since Hashins lower
bound
for bulk modulus
is stated to be an exact
result for an elastic composite in which the reinforcement is a sphere coated with a uniform layer of the
matrix.
4.1.3 Turners model
The Turner model considered
that the internal stress
system in a mixture is such that the stresses are nowhere
sufficient to distrupt
the composite,
the sum of the
internal forces can be equated to zero and an expression
for the CTE of the composite is obtained as:

(5)

where V is the volume fraction.

It is interesting
to point out that none of the many
models proposed previously for calculating
the CTE of
a composite incorporates
a dependence on particle size.
Nevertheless,
we have used the expressions of Turner,
Schapery and Kerner to see whether any of them fitted
our results.
4.2 Theoretical calculations of CTE for three-phase Al/
SiC/SiO* composite
The apparent influence of reinforcement
particle size on
the CTE may reflect differences in the relative amount
of silica formed as the particle size varies: with a
roughly constant silica layer thickness, smaller particles
feature more silica in proportion
to Sic as shown in
Fig. 3. To evaluate the influence of this effect, the CTE
of composites of aluminum reinforced with silica-coated
SIC was evaluated under the assumption
that the reinforcement is spherical and coated with a uniform thickness of silica. So, considering
VP to be the volume
fraction of the uncoated particles, the number of particles, N, is N= 6Vp/7rd3, where d is the Sic particle size.
The volume fraction
of the silica layer for a given
thickness t is:
Vsio2 = N[%(d + 2t)3 - a d3]

(6)

Thus we can calculate the CTE change expected for

different particle sizes and different thicknesses of the
interface layer. The CTE and bulk modulus of the reinforcement were calculated for each particle size explored
in this work by using the Kerner model, use of which is
justified by the predominantly
convex shape of the SIC
reinforcement.
With these values for the reinforcement
properties, the elastic bounds for aluminum
reinforced
with silica-coated
Sic were then calculated
by using
Kerners and Schaperys formulae
[eqns (1) and (3)].
Finally, Turners model was used to determine the CTE
of the three-phase Al/SiC/Si02
composite.
Numerical values of parameters used for computation
of the predicted composite CTE by means of eqns (1)
(2) and (4) are extracted from previous experimental
work.3,5,6 The variation in Youngs and shear moduli
with temperature
for pure aluminum
was examined by
using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). A summary
of the elastic constants evaluated is provided in Table 2.
4.3 Comparison between experimental and theoretical
results
The comparison
between theoretical
calculations
and
experimental
results for the composites produced with

Thermal expansion behavior of particulate metal-matrix composites

315

Table 2. Properties of Sic, SiOz and pure ahninm

Sic

T (Cl

50

100
200
300
400
500

450
450
450
450
450
450

192
192
192
192
192
192

227
227
227
227
227
227

SiOz

4.5
4.5
4.5
4.5
4.5
4.5

70.5
71.3
72.3
13.4
74.2
75.2

30.7
31.1
31.6
32.1
32.5
33.5

preform oxidation is shown in Fig. 7. The experimental

CTEs agree well with the values predicted by the
Schapery model at low temperatures (SO-15OC), while
the CTEs in the high-temperature range (40&5OOC)
are relatively far from Kerners predictions. Between
200 and 400C the experimental CTEs show a rapid
increase, and do not agree with any of the theories; this
underlines the influence of matrix plasticity. On the
other hand, CTE values measured on composites produced from oxidized preforms show no significant
deviation from the predictions of elastic analysis, since
these lie within the elastic bounds derived by Schaperys
analysis. This feature was reported in previous worki
on Duralcan A120J6061 composites containing a high
volume fraction of reinforcement (0.40). A good agree20

6'
0

100

(a)

Pa~icleste:3um

400
200
300
Tempersture ("C)

Pure aluminum

33.4
33.5
33.6
34.2
34.4
34.6

0.41
0.47
0.55
0.58
0.61
0.62

72.03
70.66
65.90
63.73
49.16
36.91

27.2
26.6
24.7
24.1
18.1
13.2

68.28
68.55
66.21
59.79
60.96
60.48

ment with Kerners model at high temperatures was

found while the CTEs in the low-temperature region
agreed relatively well with the values predicted by
Schaperys equation.
In terms of a particle size effect, the results indicate
that the oxidized particles interact sufficiently strongly
with the surrounding aluminum that they are able to
modify the thermal expansion behavior of the bulk
material. The greater the particle size, the higher is the
thermal expansion. The increased constraint in the
composites reinforced with smaller oxidized particles is
attributed to the interfacial zone where a layer of silica
exists because of oxidation. Since the interfacial area is
related to the particle size, the volume of the interfacial
zone will depend on the particle size and, accordingly,

500

,
600

6'
0

"

"
100

@)

"
200
300
400
Temperature ("C)

500

1
600

500

600

18

~16

,6

h 14
P

14

El,

12

c
0 10

10

"0

loo

(c)

Fig. 7. Comparison

200
300
400
Temperature CC)

500

21.8
22.4
23.9
25.9
27.8
29.5

800

"0
(d)

loo

300
400
200
Tempenlture ("C)

of the measured CTEs of infiltrated SIC/Al composites with the theoretical predictions.

376

S. Elomari et al

the CTE of the composites will vary with the reinforcement size. It is not surprising that very small particles,
with their larger surface area, have a greater effect than
large particles-as
our own observations
demonstrate.
The measured
CTE shows, for each composite
type,
similar variations
with temperature,
but with a slight
decrease in the CTE value by about lop6 C as the
Sic particle size decreases from 40 to 3 urn. This effect
of particle size is, as shown in Fig. 5, relatively well
predicted
by mechanical
models using a three-phase
composite system.
Recently, Ma et af.18 examined the effect of reinforcement size on the CTE of Sic/Al metal-matrix
composites in which the SIC particle sizes were 3.5, 10 and
20 urn. They reported no significant effect of particle size
on the thermal behavior of the composites
produced
with SIC particles
having
undergone
no oxidation
treatment prior to the infiltration
process. These earlier
observations
and our own results demonstrate
that the
silica layer produced
by the oxidation
treatment
is
responsible
for the variation
in measured
CTE with
particle size.
The agreement of the high-temperature
CTE with the
prediction of the Kerner model is not in agreement with
published
CTE values for highly loaded SiC-particlereinforced
aluminum
composites,
which have been
found to agree with the Turner model above 40~01%
SiC.19 However, for 53~01% Sic/Al composites
produced by pressure infiltration,
Balch et a1.15 reported
that the measured low-temperature
CTE agreed fairly
well with that predicted by the Turner model, while the
CTE in the high-temperature
(175-325C) region was in
good agreement with Kerners prediction.
The authors
interpreted
these observations
as being an effect of residual stresses and void volume change in the thermally
cycled composites.

5 CONCLUSIONS
Several
work:

important

conclusions

can be drawn

from this

Vacuum-assisted
high-pressure
infiltration
produced composites
in which most of the material
appeared to be free of porosity and of high quality.
The thermal-expansion
coefficients
of pressureinfiltrated metal-matrix
composites
he within the
elastic bounds derived by Schaperys analysis.
Oxidized SIC particles in the amount of 56~01%
decreased
the
CTE
of
aluminum
from
25.2x 10-6C~
to 12x 10~6C-.
The experimental CTEs agree well with the values predicted
by the Schapery model at low temperatures
(5&
lYYC), while the CTEs in the temperature
range
from 400 to 500C are far from Kerners predictions.

4. The effect of particle size is quite evident in the

composites produced here: the larger the particles,
the greater the thermal expansion of the composite.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to Professors
Mortensen
(MIT) for the squeeze-casting
in this work.

Also,

Director

Spacecraft

of

Space Agency,

we would

like to thank

Engineering

for assistance

at

and stimulating

Flemings
facilities

and
used

Dr Vukovich,
the

Canadian
suggestions.

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