Effects of T6 Treatment, Tensile Temperature, and Mass Fraction of SiC on the Mechanical Properties of SiCp/6061Al Composites.

Yong Hu,Mingkai Song,Maosen Wang,Tong Wu,Wenyang Wang,Hongwei Zhao,Long Qian,Yue Guo

doi:10.3390/ma12101602

Abstract

SiCp/6061Al composites have been developed and widely applied in many fields, such as automobile, aerospace, shipping, and so on. Considering heat treatment, service environment, and strength of composites, this paper comprehensively studies the mechanical properties of SiCp/6061Al composites with a large range of SiC mass fractions under T6 treatments and different tensile temperatures. SiCp/6061Al composites were successfully prepared by hot press sintering at various SiC mass fractions (0–30%), and the influences of SiC concentration and T6 treatment on the mechanical properties of composites were characterized via tensile tests at room temperature, 100, and 200 °C. Microstructure and fracture surfaces of composites with various SiC concentrations were further analyzed by optical microscope and SEM. The formula for the biggest critical reinforcement concentration for the saturated distribution of SiC is proposed to reveal the strengthening rule of different SiC concentrations. Results show that the effect of T6 treatment on the mechanical properties of composites is a marked increase in tensile strength and an obvious decrease in elongation. The increase in the SiC mass fraction, except at 30%, is able to bring an increase in tensile strength and a decrease in elongation, and the change of the elongation is insignification in T6-treated specimens. The tensile strength of T6-treated specimens decreases as temperature increases, and the composite has a maximum elongation at 100 °C.

Highlights

6061 aluminum alloy matrix composites, with broad application prospects in the fields of automobile, aerospace, shipping, etc., have been highlighted recently due to the high thermal conductivity, low density, and good processing performance of the 6061 aluminum alloy
Considering heat treatment, service environment, and strength of composites comprehensively, this paper mainly studies the effects of T6 treatment and tensile test temperature on the mechanical properties of SiCp /6061Al composites with various mass fractions of SiC particles, which has important guiding significance for the practical application of composites
Experimental results for T6-treated at room temperature indicated that the effect of T6-treated on the mechanical properties of composites caused a marked increase in tensile strength, but a significant

Summary

Introduction

6061 aluminum alloy matrix composites, with broad application prospects in the fields of automobile, aerospace, shipping, etc., have been highlighted recently due to the high thermal conductivity, low density, and good processing performance of the 6061 aluminum alloy. Many scholars have studied the reinforcement of SiC on aluminum alloy matrix composites, but few papers have studied the mechanical properties of SiCp /6061Al composites with a large range of SiC mass fractions, especially connecting this with heat treatment and different tensile temperatures. Rodríguez-Castro et al noticed that the mechanical properties of the composites were greatly influenced by the mass fractions of SiC, and that the effect of SiC particles reinforcement on the strengthening of aluminum alloy was limited up to a certain volume fraction [9]. It is important to determine the strengthening rule of different SiC contents for the 6061 aluminum alloy within a large range of SiC mass fractions, and determine the critical concentration for reinforcement

Methods

Results

Conclusion