Patent ID: 7011135

Claim:
An apparatus for producing a composite material including ceramic hollow particles and one of aluminum and aluminum alloy comprising: a molten stock vessel including a vessel body including a gas inlet port at an upper part thereof and a molten stock outlet port at a bottom thereof; a chamber formed in said vessel body in a manner to intercommunicate said gas inlet port and said molten stock outlet port, and accommodating therein molten aluminum or molten aluminum alloy; a temporary sealing ceramic filter disposed in said chamber as seated against said bottom of said chamber in a manner to cover said molten stock outlet port; a gas feeding member including a member body formed with a gas infeed port for feeding a predetermined gas into the chamber of said molten stock vessel, and disposed on the upper part of said vessel body in a maimer that said member body thereof covers said gas inlet port as allowing said gas infeed port thereof to be communicated with said gas inlet port; a packing including a through hole and seated against the bottom of said vessel body in a manner to allow the through hole thereof to be communicated with said molten stock outlet port; a forming mold including a mold body disposed under said molten stock vessel with said packing interposed therebetween; a slit formed in the mold body, communicated with the molten stock outlet port of said vessel body via the through hole of said packing, and accommodating therein a plurality of ceramic hollow particles; a vent hole formed at said mold body in a manner to communicate with the slit, and extended from a bottom of said mold body to form an air vent; an air-removal ceramic filter disposed under said forming mold and seated against the bottom of said mold body in a manner to cover said air vent; and a pressure die for pressurizing an array of said gas feeding member, said molten stock vessel, said packing, said forming mold and said air-removal ceramic filter along an arrayed direction thereby bringing these components into tightly contacted relation, wherein when said predetermined gas is fed into the chamber of said molten stock vessel via the gas infeed port of said gas feeding member, the pressure of the gas causes said molten aluminum or said molten aluminum alloy to flow through said temporary sealing ceramic filter and into the slit of said forming mold and then to fill in gaps between said plural ceramic hollow particles.