Effect of chromium coated carbon fiber on the thermal and mechanical properties of Cr@Gf/Cr@CF/Al composites

In order to obtain composites which can meet the requirements of current thermal management materials, a new family of ternary aluminum matrix composites has been recently developed through vacuum gas pressure infiltration. Carbon fiber (CF) and graphite flake are both used in the composites as reinforcements, among which CF plays a role in strengthening the aluminum matrix and graphite flake plays a role in enhancing the thermal conductivity (TC) of the composites. Both of them were coated with chromium uniformly using salt bath coating to improve the wettability between the matrix and reinforcement, which were proved by the micro-structural characterization. The effects of different volume of chromium coated CF on the thermal–physical properties and mechanical properties of the composites were investigated, from which we could conclude that CF could not only dramatically increase the mechanical properties of the composites, but also can space apart the graphite flake layers for infiltration. What’s more, a Fricke prediction model was adapted to estimate the TC of the composites, and the reasons of the gap between the measured value and prediction model were systematically analyzed.