FIBER REINFORCED COMPOSITE MEMBER AND ITS PRODUCTION

PURPOSE:To provide a fiber reinforced composite member which is light in weight and has improved strength by constituting the same of a precipitation hardening type stainless steel fiber molding and an Al alloy matrix which is subjected to an artificial aging treatment after a soln. heat treatment. CONSTITUTION:The abovet-described composite member is adapted to, for example, a connecting rod for an internal combustion engine. More specifically, precipitation hardening type stainless steel fibers (pH steel fibers) are inserted together with a copper brazing material into a heat resistant glass tube, and are held at 1,120 deg.C to melt. The fibers are partially diffusion-bonded to each other by such melting to form a fibrous molding F, whereafter the molding F is quickly cooled and is hardened by a soln. heat treatment. The molding F is disposed in the cavity of dies for forming a rod part in the axial line direction thereof, and with an Al alloy used as a matrix M a connecting rod is cast by a high pressure solidification casting method. At the same time, the matrix M is packed in the rod part 1 with the molding F, whereby the matrix is fiber-reinforced. The connecting rod is heat-treated at 500 deg.C and is then cooled by using hot water kept at >=60 deg.C to solutionize the Al alloy. On the other hand, the pH steel fibers constituting the molding F is subjected to a precipitation hardening treatment.