Porous inorganic material and metal-matrix composite material containing the same and process therefor

摘要

An in-situ porous inorganic material with a skeleton structure of aluminum borate whiskers, and a whisker-reinforced metal-matrix composite material including the porous inorganic material as a reinforcement, has aluminum borate whiskers distributed uniformly and randomly therein. Each of a plurality of the aluminum borate whiskers is bonded to at least another one of the aluminum borate whiskers at a bonding site, which is formed from aluminum borate common to and constituting part of each one of the aluminum borate whiskers bonded at the bonding site. A process of producing the in-situ porous inorganic material includes the steps of firing a compact of mixed powder including an aluminum compound, a boron compound, and a nickel compound and thereby in-situ synthesizing the aluminum borate whiskers.