Abstract
Aluminum matrix composites have recently taken an important role in advanced applications because they have a good combination of physical and chemical properties. For this reason, in this work, aluminum composites, with additions of ceramic particles (mullite or tungsten carbide), were manufactured in order to determine the effect of those particles on the mechanical properties and microstructure of aluminum. The manufacture of the composites was carried out by means of powder metallurgy. We studied composites with additions of 0.5 and 1 vol.% of the respective ceramic. Composites were sintered at 580 and 601 °C, which corresponds to 88 and 91% of the melting point of aluminum, respectively. Observations in SEM, together with EDX analysis, confirm that mullite particles are located at intragranular and transgranular positions of the aluminum matrix, while tungsten carbide particles were found mostly at intragranular areas of the matrix. From the analysis of the studied ceramics, it was found that with the use of mullite, there are greater improvements in the hardness and elastic modulus of the manufactured composite.
Highlights
The use of aluminum matrix composites (AMC’s) with unique properties is growing day by day in different industries, due to their high resistance-weight ratio, good corrosion resistance, and high thermal and electrical conductivity [1,2,3]
Scientists have found that the incorporation of different types of reinforcement materials, such as ceramics, metals, and intermetallic particles, have proved to be an effective way to increase the wear properties of the aluminum matrix
This is how AMC’s have been manufactured with the addition of different compounds that are intended to be the reinforcers of the metallic matrix, the AMC’s have been manufactured with SiC/B4 C [7], SiC/Al2 O3 [8], TiC [9], alloys of Fe-Cr-Al/Y2 O3 [10], FeC/Cr2 C [11]
Summary
The use of aluminum matrix composites (AMC’s) with unique properties is growing day by day in different industries, due to their high resistance-weight ratio, good corrosion resistance, and high thermal and electrical conductivity [1,2,3] These composites initially substituted some cast iron and bronze alloys, but owing to their poor wear resistance, they were subjected to many experiments in order to understand their wear behavior. Scientists have found that the incorporation of different types of reinforcement materials, such as ceramics, metals, and intermetallic particles, have proved to be an effective way to increase the wear properties of the aluminum matrix This is how AMC’s have been manufactured with the addition of different compounds that are intended to be the reinforcers of the metallic matrix, the AMC’s have been manufactured with SiC/B4 C [7], SiC/Al2 O3 [8], TiC [9], alloys of Fe-Cr-Al/Y2 O3 [10], FeC/Cr2 C [11]. A situation to consider is that, to date, the production of the AMC’s has been conducted through very sophisticated methods, using a special aluminum alloy [8,10,11]
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