Influence of the specific surface area of a porous nickel to the intermetallic compound generated by reaction of a porous nickel and aluminum

A new process is proposed to fabricate an intermetallic compound reinforced aluminum alloy matrix composite by using the reaction between porous nickel and molten aluminum alloy. The intermetallic compound reinforced aluminum alloy composite was manufactured with the low-pressure infiltration process method. The amounts of the intermetallic compounds under 3 different specific surface area of porous nickel and the porosity inside composites were investigated. Porous nickel reacted with molten aluminum alloy at 973 K, and the intermetallic compound of Al3Ni was generated on the surface of the porous nickel. The generated intermetallic compound Al3Ni, was delaminated according to the difference of thermal expiation coefficient with nickel. And the intermetallic compounds moves in the direction of aluminum matrix. The area fraction of the intermetallic compounds increased with the increasing specific surface area of porous nickel. In addition, the defect inside the composite decreased by the increasing specific surface area of porous nickel.