Paper number 1181

PROCESSING OF CARBON FIBER REINFORCED TITANIUM MATRIX COMPOSITES

C. Arvieu¹,², C. Even¹, B. Guillaume¹, J.L. Bobet¹, J.M. Quenisset¹,² et P. Chadeyron³

1Institut de Chimie de la Matière Condencée - CNRS
2Laboratoire de Génie Mécanique - IUT
Université Bordeaux 1, F-33405 Talence Cedex (France)
3Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique: CEA / CESTA
F-33114 Le Barp (France)

Summary

The development of a processing method based on Powder Metallurgy, for manufacturing titanium matrix composites selectively reinforced by carbon fibers has given rise to various types of study related to: (1) the preparation of very fine titanium powder (about 3 µm in size) through the subdivision of titanium hydride without noticeable contamination thanks to the combination of hydriding / dehydriding cycles and grinding, (2) the protection of the carbon reinforcement against the titanium reactivity by coating fibers with either copper, pyrocarbon or boron nitride, (3) the choice of a totally fugitive polymeric vector for impregnating fibers yarns by the matrix powder and (4) the determination of a Pressure, Temperature, Time cycle allowing the matrix densification without excessive fiber / matrix interaction.

Keywords

metal matrix composites, titanium matrix composites, composite processing, powder metallurgy, fiber/matrix interface.