The manufacture of ceramic composites has traditionally been a complex and often expensive process. A new processing method, the DIMOX$ sp{ rm TM}$ process, takes advantage of the high temperature oxidation behaviour of aluminum alloys to produce a ceramic-metal composite. Although this process is fairly simple to implement, there has not been any attempt to link the starting materials and manufacturing conditions to the properties of the final composite. This work attempts to identify some critical parameters in the manufacturing process and how they affect the end product. The reaction temperature, alloy composition, and powder bed condition were optimized with respect to the growth process, final composition, and resulting microstructure. These characteristics were then related to the elasticity, strength, fracture toughness, and fracture mode of the final composite. / Aluminum-magnesium-silicon alloys were oxidized into an alumina bed of either Alcan C-70 UNG power or Struers' 400 grit. The process conditions were optimized in air at 1120$ sp circ$C with a 10% silicon, 2% magnesium alloy. The growth rate was dependent on the powder bed. The material was composed of alumina, silicon, aluminum, and trace amounts of magnesium aluminate spinel. The fracture mode was dependent on the composition of the material and the alumina bed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.60591 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Jaansalu, Kevin Michael |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Engineering (Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001256719, proquestno: AAIMM72193, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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