Studying behavior of Al-composite reinforced by ZrSiO4 /TiB2 under different processing temperature

Recently, a large number of metal-matrix composites (MMCs) have been developed for high performance applications. The first requirement for superior performance of a composite material is the homogeneous distribution of the reinforcing phase. In particulate-reinforced composites, any agglomeration of reinforcement particles deteriorates the mechanical properties of composite. In present study, ZrSiO4 and TiB2 particles were incorporated in A356.1 alloy. The size of ZrSiO4 and TiB2 particles was 1 micron. Reinforcement particles were added to melted aluminum at different temperatures above pure aluminum melting point (750, 850, 950ºC). The volume percent of reinforcement particles was 5%. After addition of reinforcement, stirring was continued for 12 minutes for better distribution and better solidification conditions. The microstructure and mechanical behavior of prepared composites were studied. The results of these experiments show that the mechanical properties and microstructure of composites were changed by increasing temperature; also the best condition of ZrSiO4 case was 750ºC but 850ºC for TiB2.

Keywords:

MMCs , Aluminum matrix composites , Reinforcement