6. Conclusion

Metal matrix composites are now available. They have made significant progress in terms of manufacturing technologies and knowledge of mechanical and physical behavior. Designers and engineering departments have a wide range of CMMs at their disposal, offering different levels of cost/performance compromise:

• CMM semi-finished products: isotropic and inexpensive, they can be shaped from ingots or billets using traditional metallurgical technologies;

• CMM parts: made-to-measure, they enable the reinforcement to be located or oriented in a preferential way, to adapt to the component's specifications.

The technical and economic assessment of substitution by a CMM solution must be carried out globally by the user, based on the indications of the material designer. The success...