Direct measurement of drainage curves in infiltration of SiC particle preforms: influence of interfacial reactivity

We present dynamic measurement of drainage curves in two systems having relevance to metal matrix composite processing, namely SiC/Al and SiC/Al-12.2at%Si. Data show that liquid/solid chemical reactions that cause a lowering of the contact angle do indeed drive spontaneous ingress of metal into the preforms at fixed applied pressure; however, these also hinder infiltration under continuous infiltration, lower pressurization rates causing a reduced level of penetration by the metal at given pressure. Metal/reinforcement chemical interactions that can drive wetting by lowering the contact angle are, therefore, not necessarily beneficial in the pressure infiltration processing of particle reinforced metals.