Fabrication of Al/Ni Multilayer Composite by Electrodeposition and Hot Press Bonding and Investigation of its Bending Property

Abstract

The Al/Ni multilayer composite with highly exothermic reactions and good plasticity was fabricated by electrodeposition and hot press bonding process. The Al/Ni multilayer composite consisted of the microscale Al and Ni layers. The Ni layers were electroplated on Al foils for a certain time and DC current, and then a mounts of deposited foils were stacked and combined as a whole bulk Al/Ni multilayer composite. In this study, the microstructure evolution, phase transformation, exothermic heat and bending property of the Al/Ni multilayer composite during various hot press bonding were studied by SEM, XRD, DSC and bending test. Under the hot press bonding condition of 400°C and 1h, the exothermic heat, the bending strength and the bending displacement reached 916J/g, 614.5MPa and 4mm, respectively. The results showed that by the increasing time of hot press bonding, the bending displacement of the Al/Ni multilayer composite improved firstly and then declined sharply. It was also found that when the time of hot press bonding increased, the bending strength and the exothermic heat decreased simultaneously, owing to the nucleation and growth of the Al3Ni phases in the interfaces between Al and Ni layers.