Synthesis of a (ZrAl3+AlN)/Al composite and the influence of particles content and element Cu on the microstructure and mechanical properties

Abstract

Al matrix composites reinforced by dual particles have attracted much attention recently. In this paper, utilizing liquid–solid reaction between ZrN powder and Al matrix, a (ZrAl3+AlN)/Al composite has been prepared. The in–situ synthesized ZrAl3 and AlN particles exhibit sub–micron and nano–sized, respectively. Based on the analysis of electron back–scattered diffraction detector (EBSD) and X–ray diffraction (XRD), the extruded Al–5ZrN, Al–10ZrN and Al–4Cu–10ZrN composites all prefer to form sheet texture in the longitudinal section and can be marked as {110}<111>. It was found that the increase of particles content leads to the increase of hardness and tensile strength at both room temperature (25 °C) and elevated temperature (350 °C), whereas the introduction of Cu element results in the increase of tensile strength at room temperature but decrease at elevated temperature. It is regarded that the formation of Al2Cu surrounding ZrAl3 and AlN particles may be responsible for the decreasing of tensile strength at 350 °C. This paper may be referred for designing dual–particles strengthened composites.