SCALING UP PARTICULATE-REINFORCED ALUMINUM COMPOSITES FOR COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION

Under a program funded by the U.S. Air Force, the manufacture of discontinuously reinforced aluminum composites is being scaled up to commercially useful sizes and production rates. An integral part of the attempt to scale up the production of these composites is the evaluation of the properties of the materials produced so that specifications can be maintained. Among the composites being tested are 6090/SiC/25p, which is designed for ambient-temperature applications, and X8019/SiC/12.5p, which is designed for elevated-temperature applications. This article describes the properties of both materials in general and the ambient-temperature material in particular.