A novel approach to fabricate ceramic/metal interpenetrating phase composites by ultrasonic-assisted spontaneous infiltration

Abstract The research on the ceramic/metal composites with interpenetrating continuous lamellar structure has attracted much interest in structural materials field. In this work, we proposed an innovative approach to fabricate co-continuous ZrB2–SiC/Zn–5Al composites by combining freeze casting with ultrasonic-assisted spontaneous infiltration. The ZrB2–SiC porous ceramic with orderly lamellar channels (30 vol%) was fabricated by freeze casting using ammonium polyacrylate as the dispersant. The effects of ultrasonication duration on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the composites were investigated in detail. Results indicated that the ultrasonication improved the wettability and facilitated the spontaneous infiltration. The composites obtained the excellent comprehensive properties when the duration was 300 s, which can be attributed to not only the sufficient infiltration of lamellar channels but also the longer infiltration distance inside the ceramic walls induced by the ultrasonic capillary and cavitation.