Fabrication of in-situ particle reinforced aluminum matrix composites with Al-Zr-O-B system

In-situ ZrB2, ZrAl3 and A12O3 particle reinforced aluminum matrix composites were prepared by the direct melt reaction in the system Al-Zr-O-B. The calculation of reactive thermo-dynamics of in-situ synthesized ( A12O3 + Al3Zr + ZrB2 ) p / Al composites shows that the reaction can self-proceed in the aluminum melt at initiating condition of 850 °C. The observation of X-ray diffusion (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) demonstrates that formed reinforced particles A12O3, Al3Zr, ZrB2 are uniformly distributed into the composites. With the increasing in volume fraction of reactive particle, the tensile strength of the composites is raised and its elongation is descended.