Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
7890055 | Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing | 2016 | 45 Pages |
Abstract
We propose a method of modelling the infiltration process of a liquid aluminium matrix into a porous silicon carbide particle (SiCp) preform based on porous medium geometry obtained from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. Our simulation illustrates that via a pore-scale, two-phase flow model, an improved description of the flow structure in the porous medium can be obtained compared with the description offered by traditional methods, such as those based on the capillarity and wetting conditions of porous media and Darcy's law, the Brinkman equations or Richards' equation. Simultaneously, we validate the proposed model by comparing simulated and experimental data. In particular, the simulation results successfully capture several important features of a pore-scale, two-phase flow: the evolution of the flow front during the infiltration process, the most probable locations of potential defects, the preferential flow paths, the pressure distribution, the velocity field and the permeability of the porous SiCp preform.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Materials Science
Ceramics and Composites
Authors
San Zhang, Mengjian Zhu, Xun Zhao, Degan Xiong, Hong Wan, Shuxin Bai, Xiaodong Wang,