In-situ synthesis of an Al composite reinforced with multi-scale Al12Mo, (Al, Zr, Si) and Al2O3 particles through a multi-stage reaction

Heterogeneous strengthening effect has been a more and more attractive theory for designing metal matrix composites in recent years. In this paper, a new multiphase reinforced Al composite (Al12Mo + (Al,Zr,Si) + Al2O3)/Al has been prepared through a multi-stage reaction of Al-10ZrO(2)-5MoSi(2) alloy on the basis of Al-10ZrO(2), ie. (ZrAl3 + Al2O3)/Al composite, by introducing MoSi2. The strengthening phases, including micro-sized Al12Mo, sub-micron (Al,Zr,Si) and nano-sized Al2O3, are in-situ synthesized, performing attractive strengthening effect. The in-situ synthesized sub-micron (Al,Zr,Si) and nano-sized Al2O3 particles exhibit a net-work distribution, while micron Al12Mo particles act as the node of particle network. Compared with Al-10ZrO(2), the Al-10ZrO(2)-5MoSi(2) composite exhibits improved tensile strength at both room temperature (25 degrees C) and elevated temperature (350 degrees C). The reaction mechanism and phase evolution procedure have been discussed. This work can be referred in designing new multifarious particles reinforced composites to achieve promotion at material properties.