Effect of nano-SiC content on mechanical properties of SiC/2014Al composites fabricated by powder metallurgy combined with hot extrusion

Abstract

Nano-SiC particulates (n-SiC_p) reinforced 2014Al matrix composites with different reinforcement volume fractions (0, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 vol.-%) were fabricated by powder metallurgy combined with hot extrusion. The effect of volume fraction of n-SiC_p on mechanical properties of composites was studied at both ambient and elevated temperatures. The increase of n-SiC_p content led to an increase in yield strength (YS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and a slight decrease in elongation which is much better than the composites reinforced with micro-SiC_p. The 0.5 vol.-% n-SiC_p/2014Al composite observed the highest YS and UTS of ∼378 and ∼573 MPa at room temperature and of ∼303 and ∼409 MPa at 473 K. The enhancement of the properties is suggested to be induced by uniformly dispersed and well-bonded n-SiC_p reinforcements as well as the age-hardening effect of the more and finer precipitates.

Keywords

Metal matrix composites SiC Powder metallurgy Hot extrusion Mechanical properties

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