Thermo-physical and mechanical properties of high volume fraction SiCp/Cu composites prepared by pressureless infiltration

SiCp/Cu composites with high reinforcement content were fabricated by pressureless infiltration of copper alloy into porous SiC preform obtained by powder injection molding. The microstructure, thermo-physical and mechanical properties were investigated. The relative density of the SiCp/Cu composite reached 98.1%. The reinforcement volume fraction achieved 57-68% by using bimodal or trimodal particle distributions. The coefficients of thermal expansion in the range of 20-500 °C were found to be between 7.9 and 10.5 × 10−6 K−1. The CTEs agree well with estimated value based on Kerner's model. The composites exhibit negligible hysteresis loop and small residual plastic strain, implying that it has high thermal stability. The thermal conductivity was in the range of 125-153 Wm−1 K−1. The bending strength ranged from 176 to 259 MPa, depending on the particle size. The elastic modulus reached 250 GPa, which is close to the prediction by H-S model.