Application of ceramic preforms to the manufacturing of ceramic - Metal composites

Abstract

This paper presents new solution to manufacturing Cu-Al2O 3 composites with a dispersed reinforcement phase. It consists in substituting commonly used commercial alumina powder with crushed ceramic foam. Very low strength of thin-walled Al2O3 porous foams results in both their easy destruction and isolation of fragments <200 μm. The addition of the ceramic phase is 3-10 vol.%. The sintering process is performed for 30 min in a hot-press at 1050°C and 30 MPa. The aim of the presented paper is to study the effect of the volume content of the ceramic phase on the microstructure and selected physical and thermal properties of copper - alumina composites.