Investigation of interfacial reactivity in composite materials

The chemical vapor deposition technique has been used for the experimental simulation of the interfacial reactions in titanium matrix, silicon carbide reinforced, metal matrix composites (MMCs). Silicon and/or carbon containing thin films have been deposited on titanium substrates. The resulting diffusion couples have been given long term, high temperature treatments corresponding to operating conditions at the limits of Ti-based MMCs. The interfacial microstructures produced by these treatments have been investigated by different techniques and were successfully compared to those ones in the real Ti matrix MMCs. This new approach allows for a rapid, economic and easy-to-use evaluation technique and contributes to the optimization of the interfacial characteristics in composite materials.