This paper reviews the research and development works conducted over the past few decades on carbon fiber reinforced metal matrix composites (CFR-MMC). The structure and composition of carbon fiber and its bonding to metal matrix have an impact on the properties of the resulting CFR-MMC remarkably. The research efforts on process optimization and utilizing of carbon fibers are discussed in this review. The effect of carbon fiber on structural, physical and mechanical properties of metal matrix composite are studied as well. This review also provide an overview of the research to date on various fabrication methods that is used for production of CFR-MMC.

Carbon fiber reinforced metal matrix composites: Fabrication processes and properties

10–90 vol.% of flake graphite is combined with aluminum powders to form aluminum–graphite composites via vacuum hot pressing process. The results show that the relative density of powder composites achieves up to 99% for composites containing 10–90 vol.% graphite. With the increase of flake graphite from 10 to 90 vol.% in the composites, thermal conductivity increase from 324 to 783 W/m K; the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) in direction parallel to basal planes of graphite flakes decrease from 16.9 to −2.5 ppm/K, and the CTE perpendicular to basal plane decreases from 15.2 to 10.1 ppm/K. The parallel arrangements of graphite flakes and aluminum lead the thermal conductivity values of composites to agree well with parallel model estimations. The CTE of composites in a-axis agree with rule of mixture estimation representing proportional contribution of the two phases. Along the c-axis of graphite in composites, the CTE are consistent with Turner model estimations indicating that the graphite flake could absorb the expansion from the aluminum phase.

Arndt Luedtke

Papers

Thermal Management Materials for High-Performance Applications