Microstructure and thermal properties of nickel-coated carbon fibers/aluminum composites

Abstract

Electroless nickel-coated carbon fibers/aluminum composites were prepared by spark plasma sintering, and the effect of nickel coating on microstructure and thermal properties of the composites has been investigated. Nickel coating on carbon fibers resulted in more homogeneous distributions of carbon fibers in aluminum matrix, higher relative density of carbon fibers/aluminum composites, and stronger interfacial bonding between carbon fibers and aluminum. Microstructural observations exhibited that the majority of carbon fibers were randomly distributed on the sections (X-Y direction) perpendicular to spark plasma sintering pressing direction (Z direction), thus leading to an anisotropic behavior in thermal conductivity of the composites. The thermal conductivity values in the X-Y direction of the carbon fibers/aluminum composites were much higher than those in the Z direction. As a result, the nickel-coated carbon fibers/aluminum composites with a nickel-coating thickness of ∼0.2 µm showed higher thermal conductivity and lower coefficient of thermal expansion values in comparison with those of the uncoated carbon fibers/aluminum samples.

Temperature Resistance Properties of Unidirectional Laminated Cf/SiC-Al Prepared by PIP and Vacuum Pressure Infiltration

“…The result showed that the tensile strength and Vickers hardness increased by 71% and 88%, respectively. Using aluminum alloy as raw material, aluminum alloy matrix was prepared by extrusion casting and spark plasma technology [22,23]. Through experiment and theoretical analysis, the mechanical properties of carbon fiber and aluminum matrix composites at different temperatures, and the mechanical properties of carbon fiber and aluminum matrix composites at different temperatures, were discussed [24].…”

Electrical, Thermal, and Mechanical Characterization of Hot Coined Carbon Fiber Reinforced Pure Aluminium Composites

“…• [18].This makes it easy to form pores and agglomerations at the interface due to their significant difference in density and melting points [7,19]. The metallic coating is usually applied on the CF surface to improve not only the interfacial bonding and wettability but also the properties of composites [20][21][22]. The electroless coating is the most common technique used in the coating process owing to its simple, few tools used, and uniform coating layers can be obtained [23,24].…”

“…To our knowledge, many studies have paid attention to the effect of Ni surface modification on CF/Al composites fabricated by solid-state techniques [22,39,40]. Others studied the effect of Cu surface modification on the properties of composites.…”