Abstract
Aluminium (Al) based in-situ metal matrix composites (MMCs) have better properties and performance compared to ex-situ MMCs. In this research, aluminium-copper (Al-Cu) alloy was reinforced with 3 and 6wt.% titanium diboride (TiB 2 ). Al-MMCs has been fabricated with salt route reaction process at 800 °C via potassium hexafluorotitanate (K2TiF 6 ) and potassium tetrafluoroborate (KBF 4 ) salts. Hardness vickers tester and Gamry-Electrod Potentiometer were used to characterize the hardness properties and to determine the corrosion rate of Al-Cu alloys. From results obtained, increased TiB 2 contents will increase the hardness of Al-Cu alloys. Increased of TiB 2 contents also will increase the corrosion rate of Al-Cu alloys. Al-Cu with 3wt.%TiB 2 gave the good properties of corrosion when the wear rate recorded the lowest value compare to Al-Cu alloy itself and 6 wt.% TiB 2 . The corrosion rate of Al-Cu with 3wt.TiB 2 was 16.15, while Al-Cu and Al-Cu-6wt%TiB2 were 22.5 and 58.7 mm/y respectively.
Highlights
Al is the most popular matrix for metal matrix composites (MMCs)
The results show the addition of Cu resulted in a linear increase of the hardness, and substantial reduction in the grain size, slight reduction the impact energy, substantial increase in the flow stress at 0.2 strains, and improve in the mechanical properties
The composites subjected to age were tested their hardness properties within 48 hours regarding to [7] specifications
Summary
In-situ techniques have been developed to fabricate Al-based MMCs, which can lead to better adhesion at the interface and better mechanical properties. These in-situ routes provide many advantages such as the in-situ formed reinforcement phases are thermodynamically stable, disperse more uniformly in matrix, free of surface contamination and leading to stronger particle matrix bonding [2]. The driving force is the free energy of reaction of the metal to form, generally, a metal oxide. The corrosion process takes place at the metal medium phase boundary and is a heterogeneous reaction in which the structure and condition of the metal surface have a significant role. Metallurgical factors that can affect corrosion in an alloy include: crystallography, grain size and shape, grain heterogeneity, impurity inclusions, and residual stress due to cold work
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