Claims
- 1. A method for fabricating a fiber reinforced glass matrix composite which comprises the steps of:
- (a) pulling a tow of alumina having a plurality of fibers in parallel relationship through an agitated slurry consisting essentially of a finely divided lithium aluminosilicate glass, a carrier liquid and an organic binder, in order to impregnate said tow;
- (b) drying and cutting said impregnated tow into a sheet of predetermined shape;
- (c) placing a plurality of layers of said sheet into a die;
- (d) hot pressing said layers at a temperature and pressure sufficient to form said reinforced composite; and
- (e) heat treating the resulting composite structure at an elevated temperature below the softening point of said glass for about 12 to 36 hours.
- 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said composite is hot pressed for about 10 to 120 minutes at a temperature of about 1000.degree. to 1500.degree. C. and a pressure of about 1000 to 4000 psi, and wherein the resulting composite is heat treated at a temperature in the range of about 750.degree. to 1000.degree. C. for about 12 to 48 hours.
- 3. The method of claim 2 wherein said hot pressing is carried out at a temperature of about 1300.degree. to 1450.degree. C. for about 13 to 30 minutes and said heat treatment is carried out at about 900.degree. C. for about 24 hours.
- 4. The method of claim 1 wherein said liquid carrier in said glass slurry is water and wherein said binder is a water soluble acrylic latex.
- 5. The method of claim 4 wherein the composition of said glass slurry is about 0.4 g of said glass and about 0.2 ml of said binder per ml of said carrier liquid.
- 6. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of sheet layers are oriented in the same direction.
- 7. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of layers are placed in said die with the fibers of each sheet laid at right angles to the fibers of each adjacent sheet.
- 8. A hot pressed, fiber reinforced matrix composite consisting essentially of a plurality of layers of parallelly oriented alumina fibers in a lithium aluminosilicate glass matrix.
- 9. The composite of claim 8 wherein said alumina fibers are unidirectional.
- 10. The composite of claim 8 wherein said alumina fibers are arranged in layers and wherein the orientation of fibers in a layer is unidirectional and wherein the orientation of adjacent layers is 90.degree..
RIGHTS OF THE GOVERNMENT
The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government of the United States for all governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty.
US Referenced Citations (11)