Abstract
Titanium/silicon carbide fibre composites offer an excellent combination of weight specific properties and are ideal for many components in gas and steam turbine engines. However, potential industrial applications are hampered by the relatively high cost of the materials. This paper critically examines the characteristics of various manufacturing or processing routes for such composites, including well developed processes, such as foil–fibre–foil, physical vapour deposition, and vacuum plasma spraying, and new slurry powder metallurgy processes currently being developed. For a given manufacturing route, composite properties are enhanced if the material possesses uniform fibre distribution and a low oxygen content and is free from fibre/matrix interface reactions, residual voids, and fibre damage. The capabilities of the above processes in satisfying these requirements are compared and discussed. Possibilities of reducing product costs are analysed. Several ways of improving the cost effectiveness of mamifacturing such composites are outlined.
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