Severe plastic deformation processing and high strain rate superplasticity in an aluminum matrix composite

Abstract

Metal matrix composites possess an attractive set of properties for structural applications. For example, reinforcement of conventional aluminum alloys with second phase ceramic particulates increases the stiffness, high temperature strength, etc. A drawback of ceramic phase reinforcement is that it makes machining of components difficult. Superplastic forming is quite attractive for hard-to-machine materials like composites. A number of aluminum matrix composites exhibit superplasticity. The most attractive feature of superplasticity in aluminum matrix composite is the high strain rate (10{sup {minus}2}--10{sup 1} s{sup {minus}1}) for optimum ductility. This is significantly higher than the optimum superplastic strain rates of 10{sup {minus}4}--10{sup {minus}3} s{sup {minus}1} in conventional fine grained alloys. The optimum superplasticity in aluminum matrix composites is influenced by the thermo-mechanical processing. In the last five years or so, a number of aluminum alloys have been processes by severe plastic deformation (SePD). Severe plastic deformation processing leads to ultrafine grained aluminum alloys with attractive superplastic properties. In this short paper the authors report on successful processing of an ultrafine grained aluminum matrix composite by severe plastic deformation technique. The SePD processes 2009 Al-SiC{sub 2} composite exhibits high strain rate superplasticity.