journal of materials processing technology 209 ( 2 0 0 9 ) 2104–2110 journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmatprotec Processing and properties of copper-coated carbon fibre reinforced aluminium alloy composites B. Bhav Singh a,* , M. Balasubramanian b a Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Kanchanbagh, Hyderabad 500 058, India b Composites Technology Centre and Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai 600 036, India article info Article history: Received 13 February 2007 Received in revised form 26 April 2008 Accepted 1 May 2008 Keywords: Carbon fibre Wettability Surface treatments Copper coating Stir casting Strength abstract Aluminium alloy matrix composites with carbon fibre reinforcement were prepared by stir casting method. In order to avoid any interfacial reactions in the carbon fibre reinforced composites, the carbon fibres were coated with copper. The fibres were coated by electroless coating method and then characterized. Composites containing different amounts of carbon fibres were prepared by stir casting and then subjected to age-hardening treatment. Fibre distribution was fairly uniform in the composites containing up to 4 wt% carbon fibres. Tensile strength of the composites was found to be increasing up to 4wt% carbon fibre. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction At present, aluminium alloy matrix composites (AMCs) are finding applications in automotive sector and strategic sec- tors such as defence and aerospace, as well as in different segments of other engineering industries. Three decades of intensive research has provided a wealth of new sci- entific knowledge on the intrinsic and extrinsic effects of ceramic reinforcement, vis-a-vis physical, mechanical, thermo-mechanical and tribological properties of aluminium alloy matrix composites. The commonly used reinforcement materials for metal matrix are alumina, aluminosilicate and silicon carbide (Colin, 2006). Carbon fibre has also been considered as a reinforce- ment material for making the metal matrix composites (Cheng ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 40 24586560/0051; fax: +91 40 24342252/0683/1439. E-mail addresses: bhav singh@rediffmail.com, bbsingh@dmrl.ernet.in (B. Bhav Singh). et al., 1994). Carbon fibre can be an equally satisfactory rein- forcing material in polymer, metal as well as ceramic matrices because of its high specific strength and specific modulus, light weight, high thermal and electrical conductivities and low coefficient of thermal expansion. Carbon fibre reinforced polymer matrix composites are used extensively in critical areas of application, but carbon fibre–metal matrix composites have not reached that stage yet (Urena et al., 2007), because of manufacturing problems. In the liquid metal stir casting process, molten aluminium has the tendency to react with the reinforcing materials. The extent of the reaction is based on the kinetics and the pre- vailing thermodynamic conditions. The presence of alloying elements in the matrix has an influence on the viscosity, con- tact angle and reaction rate with dispersoid. Carbon fibres 0924-0136/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2008.05.002