Shaped bodies containing short inorganic fibers or whiskers and methods of forming such bodies

摘要

A fiber-organic composition includes from about 5% to 50% by volume of uniformly dispersed, non-planar or three dimensionally random oriented inorganic fibers or whiskers, and a thermoplastic material such as paraffin wax. The composition also includes surfactants to promote wetting and dispersion of the inorganic fibers or whiskers. These materials are subjected to high shear mixing to form a uniform randomly oriented three-dimensional dispersion of the inorganic fibers or whiskers. After molding the mixture in such a manner so as not to disrupt the uniform, three-dimensional orientation of the fibers or whiskers, a majority of the thermoplastic material is removed leaving a shaped body or preform having sufficient strength for handling. The shaped body or preform can then be infiltrated with molten metal or the like to form a metal matrix composite.