1326 Development of Hollow Piezoelectric Ceramic Fiber/Aluminum Composites

Abstract

This paper describes the development of the metal core piezoelectric ceramic fiber/aluminum composites using the low cost hollow fibers. In this study, the new fabrication process to fill the Al-Cu liquid phase alloy produced during the interphase forming/bonding method in the hollows was applied to obtain the composites. In order to increase the filling rate as well as removing the voids and the excessive Al-Cu alloy remained in the matrix, the effects of the hot pressing temperature and the pressure were optimized in the experimental ranges. Under the hot pressing temperature of 873 K and pressure of 2.2 MPa, the filling rate attained 96 % without harmful chemical reaction between the fiber and the matrix as well as successful removal of the voids.