Study on Thermally Stable Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of In-Situ Hybrid (Al3Ni + Al2O3)/Al Composites Synthesized by Solid-State Combustion
摘要
Heat-resistant Al alloys are urgently required at engineering applications. In this paper, the thermally stable microstructures and mechanical properties of a novel in situ hybrid (Al3Ni + Al2O3)/Al composites synthesized via solid-state combustion of Al-(8%-15%)NiO system are investigated by annealing (200-600 °C), tensile tests at elevated temperature, and thermal expansion measurement. The results show that when the annealing temperature is lower than 500 °C, the morphology and size of Al3Ni particles do not change significantly, while the merging and growing of Al3Ni and Al2O3 particles are observed in 8-15%NiO-Al composites after annealing at 600 °C. The hardness retention rate of 12% and 15%NiO-Al composites reaches 90.7% and 90.3% after annealing at 500 °C for 100 h, respectively, which indicates that the composites have a good thermal stability below 500 °C. Tensile test at 350 °C indicates that the tensile strength of 15%NiO-Al composite can reach up to 113 MPa. The introduction of Al3Ni and Al2O3 particles in Al matrix decreases the average CTE values. The excellent thermal stability of composites shows promising prospects at elevated temperature applications.