Charakterisierung von Metall-Matrix-Verbundwerkstoffen mittels Ultraschallverfahren

Aluminium alloyd, reinforced with Al2O3 short or with Al2O3 short and long fibers are considered as materials for parts of the automotive engine. The manufacturing process is still under optimizations. It is an economical must to reach a high quality standart an low costs for mass products like pistons and con-rods. It is seen that ultrasonic techniques are suitable to serve as a fast and easy to apply method to characterize MMC and thus to support the optimizations of manufacturing parameters. Ultrasonic backscattering is used to visualize the local distribution of the reinforcement in surface layers of pistons and con-rods as well as for the visualization of the distribution in the bulk of con-rods. Ultrasonic time-of-flight measurements are applied to characterize the elastic anisotropy and ultrasonic velocities are determined to quantify the local content on short fiber reinforcement.