Influence of preform preparation condition on infiltration of molten aluminum

The effects of the preform preparation conditions such as the kind of binder, preform temperature, molten aluminum alloy temperature, the volume fraction (Vf) of reinforcement in preform on the permeability of the A366.0 molten aluminum alloy to FeCrSi metal fiber preform and alumina short fiber preform were investigated. The permeability at 973–1073 K and 0.4 MPa in applied pressure of molten alloy was obtained by using the infiltration speed and Darcyʹs formula. The permeability of FeCrSi fiber preform and alumina fiber preform increased on increasing the treatment temperature because of the improvement of viscosity of molten alloy at high temperature. On increasing the volume fraction of fiber, the permeability decreased because of the degradation of size of gap in preform. The permeability of FeCrSi fiber preform was greater than that of alumina fiber preform.