Effect of porosity of cordierite preforms on microstructure and mechanical strength of co-continuous ceramic composites

With the aim of reducing the overall cost of the process, co-continuous metal–ceramic composites were obtained by reactive metal penetration, starting from very low cost cordierite preforms. It was investigated how the preform porosity influences both the residual porosity left in the composites after infiltration and the mechanical properties. It was demonstrated that, despite a significant fraction of the initial porosity remains in the final composite, by a suitable choice of the preform composition and preparation method the mechanical properties are not much inferior than in the case of composites obtained from the much more expensive silica glass.