Patent ID: 6180258
Filing Date: 2001-01-30
Classification: B22F,C04B,C22C,F02B,F02F,Y10T

Abstract:
A light weight metal-matrix composite comprising a bimodal distribution of ceramic particles which are uniformly distributed throughout a metal or alloy matrix, said bimodal distribution including a first component of ceramic particles having an average particle size of less than 1 micron and a second component of ceramic particles having an average particle size of between about 5 to 15 microns, and wherein the metal matrix composite includes from about 15 to 30% by weight of said first component and from about 2.5 to about 10% by weight of said second component and wherein at least 80% of the particles in the first component are uniformly distributed so that the inner particle spacing does not exceed 3 times the diameter of the largest cross sectional dimension of the particles in the first component, and at least 80% of the ceramic particles in the second component are uniformly distributed so that the inner particle spacing does not exceed 3 times the diameter of the largest cross sectional dimension of the particles in the second component.