CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION OF TITANIUM NITRIDE ON CARBON FIBRES AS A PROTECTIVE LAYER IN METAL MATRIX COMPOSITES

Abstract The significance of carbon fibres for reinforcing metals has increased in the last years, because of their excellent mechanical properties. However, to avoid the weakening reaction during MMC fabrication between the fibre and the liquid metal, a protective coating has to be applied. Continuous carbon fibre roving with 6000 filaments were coated with TiN by thermal induced chemical vapour deposition (CVD) using a gas mixture of TiCl 4 , N 2 and H 2 as a precursor. The deposition process in the reactor was simulated by a modified Phoenics-CVD software program using a 2D-axisymmetric model. Carbon fibres reinforced magnesium matrix composites are fabricated by a pressure infiltration casting process. The mechanical properties of the MMCs can be used to demonstrate the efficacy of the coated fibre approach. The rule of mixture is realized to 98% for the coated fibre, and only 48% for the uncoated system. The infiltration pressure during the processing of composites was lowered from 10 to 1 MPa for the TiN coated system.