Fabrication of near-net-shape Al2O3-fiber-reinforced Ni3Al composites by combustion synthesis

Abstract

In this paper, a one-step, combustion synthesis-based process for fabricating Al2O3 fiber-reinforced Ni3Al is described. The process uses relatively low temperatures and pressures, and can be used to prepare relatively large, dense, near-net-shape articles that possess either simple or relatively complicated shapes. This process can be used to incorporate continuous, aligned fibers into the Ni3Al matrix material in such a way that the fibers are not damaged either mechanically (due to relatively small loads applied during the process) or chemically (due to the very short time at which the sample remains at elevated tempertures during the process). (Chopped fibers, as well as equiaxed particles or whiskers, could also be similarly incorporated using this process.) This combustion synthesis process is a relatively simple one-requiring only relatively low temperatures and pressures, as well as relatively low-cost starting materials-which suggests that its scale-up beyond the laboratory scale would be particularly straightforward.