Interpenetrating phase composites (IPCs) have unique mechanical and physical proper-ties and thanks to these they could replace traditional single phase materials in numbers of applications. The most common IPCs are ceramic-metallic systems in which a duc-tile metal supports a hard ceramic making it an excellent composite material. Fireline, Inc., from Youngstown, OH manufactures such IPCs using an Al alloy-Al2O3 based ceramic-metallic composite material. This product is fabricated using a Reactive Metal Penetration (RMP) process to form two interconnected networks. Fireline products are used, among others, as refractory materials for handling of high temperature molten metals.
A novel route to adding a shape memory metal phase within a ceramic matrix has been proposed. A NiO preform was reacted with Ti to produce an IPC using a plasma arc melting system. This reaction is particularly interesting due to the possible formation of a Ni-Ti metal phase which could exhibit shape memory e¿¿¿¿¿¿¿ects within the ceramic-metal network. Di¿¿¿¿¿¿¿erent ratios of NiO and TiO2 (rutile) were reacted with Ti to investigate if the NiTi phase could be formed.
In this thesis, two IPCs, one produced by the TCON RMP process and the other by using plasma arc-melting were investigated. The materials include Al-Fe alloy-Al2O3 and NiO-Ti ceramic-metallic IPCs. Analysis was performed using scanning/transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), focused ion beam (FIB), and X-ray di¿¿¿¿¿¿¿raction (XRD). Observations of these IPCs revealed all present phases within the composite material, obtained orientation relationships, and explored the growth mechanism of the RMP process which still puzzles the scientific community. This information is valuable for developing improved IPC systems with diverse elemental composition for a wide variety of applications.