Continuous Powder Extrusion for Fabrication of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Aluminium

Short fibre reinforced aluminium was produced using the Temconex® process which is a continuous extrusion using a mixture of metal powder and ceramic short fibre as feedstock. The Temconex® process was derived and further developed from the ConformTM process which uses metal rod rather than powder as feedstock. In the present paper the effect of the prechamber length on the mechanical properties was examined. As material Al99.7 powder with different volume fractions of milled carbon fibres was used. Distribution, orientation and geometry of the embedded fibres were examined using light microscopy. The mechanical properties were determined via tensile testing and resonance frequency analysis. An important increase of the Young’s modulus is observed because of the introduction of fibres. It can be rationalized based on Clyne’s Shear Lag model. Results show that an extension of the prechamber enhances the Young’s modulus and the elongation of fracture due to reduced fibre fracture and better fibre alignment.