Processing and characterization of Al matrix composites containing quasicrystalline particles using pulsed electric current sintering technique

K VANMEENSEL; F AUDEBERT; M GALANO; F LEMOISSON; F SAPORITI; L FROYEN

Simposio; Ismanam 2008; 2008

Al-based quasicrystals have high strength and higher Young modulus than the commercial Al alloys, which is very attractive to be used as strengthen phase for Al-based composites. In this work, different powder mixtures of pure Al and different volume fractions (0.2, 0.3, 0.45) of spherical quasicrystalline Al-Cu-Fe particles were densified using the pulsed electric current sintering technique (PECS) at 380°C, applying a pressure of 225 MPa. The microstructure was characterised by means of X-Ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The stability and the interphase reaction between the Al matrix and the quasicrystalline particles have been evaluated using differential scanning calorimetry. No phase transformation or interphase reactions were observed in the processing temperature range used. DSC curves showed that phase transformation in the quasicrystalline powder and interphase reactions in the composite samples occur at temperatures further than 500C. Vickers hardness values of the composite samples were higher than the pure Al densified samples. However, no much difference in hardness values was found between the composite samples.