Mechanical properties and fracture surface of Al-Al₂O₃ nano/micro-composites produced by accumulative roll bonding

ABSTRACT

The accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process has been utilised to produce layered materials and composites with high strength without intermediate annealing steps. This study focused on the size of reinforced particles (Al₂O₃) with an average size of 3 µm (m) and 80 nm (n) in aluminum matrix composites. Three different samples of monolithic Al, Al-1 vol.% (m)Al₂O₃, and Al-1 vol.% (n)Al₂O₃ particulate composites were produced by ARB. The SEM results revealed that the distribution of alumina particles in the fabricated composites was improved with increasing ARB cycles, while the Al-1 vol.% (m)Al₂O₃ composite presented the proper distribution of particles at higher cycles in contrast with the Al-1 vol.% (n)Al₂O₃ composite. The tensile strength of the produced composites was enhanced, and their ductility decreased with the increase in ARB cycles, while Al-1 vol.% (m)Al₂O₃ with a tensile strength of 253 MPa showed higher strength than Al-1 vol.% (n)Al₂O₃ with 229 MPa at the sixth cycle. By adding Al₂O₃ microparticles, the yield strength and tensile strength of the microcomposite sheet were increased to about 5 and 2.1 times, respectively, compared to the Al sheet.

KEYWORDS:

• Accumulative roll bonding
• Al matrix composite
• micro and nano reinforcements
• microstructure
• mechanical properties

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).