Composite material and method of making the composite material
View Patent ↗A composite is formed by inserting a ceramic powder into a channel of a preform to form a ceramic powder filled preform. The ceramic powder has at least one reactive ceramic powder. The preform is a ceramic, ceramic-metal composite, metal or combination thereof that has walls that define a plurality of channels each channel having an opening at a surface of the preform. The ceramic powder filled preform is infiltrated with a molten metal to form the ceramic-metal body, which has at least one ceramic phase that is a reaction product of the reactive ceramic and molten infiltrated metal.
1. A ceramic-metal body comprised of a matrix that is a ceramic, metal, ceramic-metal or combination thereof, the matrix having walls that define channels within the matrix wherein within at least one channel of the matrix is a channel ceramic-metal composite that has a different microstructure, chemistry or combination thereof than the walls of the matrix and the channel ceramic metal composite is comprised of a channel metal and a channel ceramic phase the channel ceramic phase being comprised of a reactive ceramic and a ceramic reaction product of the channel metal and the reactive ceramic, wherein said ceramic-metal body has a density that is at least 99% of theoretical density.
2. The ceramic-metal body of claim 1 wherein along the length of at least one channel the channel ceramic-metal composite varies in property, structure, chemistry or combination thereof.
3. The ceramic-metal body of claim 1 wherein the channel ceramic-metal composite has a different structure, chemistry, property or combination thereof than the channel ceramic-metal composite in another channel of the ceramic-metal body.
4. The ceramic-metal body of claim 3 wherein along the length of at least 50% of the channels, the channel ceramic-metal composite varies in property, structure, chemistry or combination thereof.
5. The ceramic-metal body of claim 1 wherein in at least one channel the channel ceramic-metal composite varies in property, structure, chemistry or combination thereof along a cross-sectional dimension of said channel.
6. The ceramic-metal body of claim 1 , wherein the reactive ceramic is boron carbide and the ceramic reaction product is comprised of at least one ceramic selected from
(a) AlB 2 ,
(b) Al 4 BC,
(c) Al 3 B 48 C 2 ,
(d) AlB 12 , and
(e) AlB 24 C 4 .
7. The ceramic-metal body of claim 6 , wherein the channel ceramic-metal composite of at least one channel is comprised of at least two ceramics selected from:
(a) AlB 2 ,
(b) Al 4 BC,
(c) Al 3 B 48 C 2 ,
(d) AlB 12 , and
(e) AlB 24 C 4 .
8. The ceramic-metal body of claim 7 , wherein the channel ceramic-metal composite of all of the channels is comprised of at least two ceramics selected from:
(a) AlB 2 ,
(b) Al 4 BC,
(c) Al 3 B 48 C 2 ,
(d) AlB 12 , and
(e) AlB 24 C 4 .
9. The ceramic-metal body of claim 1 wherein the channel metal is aluminum, zirconium, titanium, copper, silicon, magnesium, alloys of each of the aforementioned and mixtures thereof.
10. The ceramic-metal body of claim 1 wherein the channel ceramic-metal composite has a nominal largest ceramic grain size substantially less than the smallest channel diameter of the channels.
11. The ceramic-metal body of claim 10 wherein the nominal largest ceramic grain size is at least about 5 times smaller than the smallest channel diameter of the channels.
12. The ceramic-metal body of claim 6 wherein the channel ceramic metal composite of at least one channel contains a ceramic that is unreacted with the metal of said ceramic-metal composite.
13. The ceramic-metal body of claim 1 wherein the matrix is ceramic, metal or combination thereof.
14. The ceramic-metal body of claim 13 wherein the matrix is ceramic.
15. The ceramic-metal body of claim 13 wherein the matrix is metal.
16. The ceramic-metal body of claim 1 wherein the matrix is porous.
17. The ceramic-metal body of claim 1 wherein the matrix is dense.
18. A structural component comprised of the ceramic-metal body of claim 1 .
19. The structural component of claim 18 wherein the structural component is a vehicular structural component.
20. The structural component of claim 19 wherein the vehicular structural component is a braking or suspension component.