Effect of Al–Mg Alloy Infiltration on Mechanical and Electrical Properties for Carbon/Carbon Composites

Under vacuum Al–Mg alloy, liquids were successfully infiltrated into carbon/carbon (C/C) composites at high temperatures. Then, the mechanical properties, the metallographics, the scanning electron microscope images, the transmission electron microscope images, the X-ray diffraction images, and the energy dispersive spectroscopy results of C/C–Al–Mg composites were analyzed. The result showed that the bending property of C/C–Al–Mg composites reached 183 MPa whereas that of C/C composites totaled 165 MPa. The compressive strength of C/C–Al–Mg measured 206 MPa whereas that of C/C composites amounted to 142 MPa. The flexural strength and compressive strengths of the steeped metal sliders measured 121 and 104 MPa, respectively. The alloy liquid infiltrated into the matrix by forming a “network conduction” structure which reduced the resistivity and improved the conductivity of the composites. The resistivity of C/C–Al–Mg totaled 1.63 µΩm whereas that of C/C was 3.56 μΩm. During infiltration, an excellent wettability was observed between Al and the carbon matrix due to the existence of Al4C3. The friction coefficients of C/C, the steeped metal slide, and C/Al–Mg were 0.152, 0.068, and 0.189, respectively. The properties of C/C–Al–Mg composites meet the performance requirements of locomotive pantograph sliders.