Processing and Mechanical Properties of Hot Extruded Al (Mg)-Al2O3 Composites

Aluminium metal matrix composites (AMMCs) are preferred to other conventional materials in the fields of aerospace, automotive and marine applications owing to their improved properties like high strength to weight ratio, good wear resistance, corrosion resistance etc. Hot Extrusion of the discontinuously reinforced AMMCs can lead to break up of particle agglomerates, reduction of porosity, and improved bonding, all of which contribute to improve the mechanical properties of these materials. Alumina can be considered as ideal reinforcements, due to their high strength, high aspect ratio and thermo-mechanical properties. The objective of this work is to reinforce 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 wt% of Al2O3 particles with Al 1100 (Mg) alloy by melt stirring method to make aluminium based composites and Hot Extrusion is carried out for the same composites. Microstructural studies like Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with EDAX and Mechanical properties like tensile strength and hardness will be investigated for extruded alloy and composites. Variations in microstructures and mechanical properties have been compared. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.