EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON THE STRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF MECHANICALLY ALLOYED Al-NiO COMPOSITE

Mechanical alloying of high-purity aluminum and 10 wt.% NiO powders combined with powder vacuum compression and following hot extrusion method was used to produce an Al-NiO composite. Mechanical properties of as-extruded materials as well as the samples annealed at 823 K /6 h, were tested by compression at 293 K - 770 K. High mechanical properties of the material were attributed to the highly refined structure of the samples. It was found that the structure morphology was practically not changed during hot-compression tests. Therefore, the effect of deformation temperature on the hardness of as-deformed samples was very limited. The annealing of samples at 823 K/6 h induced a chemical reaction between NiO-particles and surrounding aluminum matrix. As a result, the development of very fine aluminum oxide and Al3Ni grains was observed.