Preparation of nacre-like composites by reactive infiltration of a magnesium alloy into porous silicon carbide derived from ice template

• Bio-inspired lamellar AZ91/SiC composites were prepared using ice templating.
• Preoxidation of SiC scaffolds greatly promoted the infiltration of Mg alloy.
• Activation energy of spontaneous infiltration was estimated to be 7.74 kJ/mol.
• The composite exhibited superior compressive and flexural strength to the Mg alloy.

Lightweight and high-strength AZ91/SiC composites with lamellar structures were successfully prepared by using freeze casting (ice-templating) and reactive infiltration techniques. The infiltration dynamics was measured and activation energy calculated to be 7.74 kJ/mol. The compressive and flexural strengths of the composites with 30 vol% initial solid load reached 743±20 MPa and 599±44 MPa, about 1.8 and 1.5 times of those of the AZ91 alloy, respectively.

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