Metallurgical Engineering

Metallurgical Engineering

Effect of copper powder size and chemical treatments on microstructure and properties of in-situ Al-Al2Cu composites prepared by mechanical milling and sintering.

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Farshad Akhlaghi
Alireza Ebne Ali
North Kargar Ave. Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran
10.22076/me.2024.2026834.1400
Abstract
In the present investigation, Al-Al2Cu composites prepared in-situ via mechanical alloying of a powder mixture containing Al and 10wt.% of two different sizes of Cu powders, cold pressing and sintering. In order to investigate the effects of chemical treatments on the microstructure and properties of composites, in a number of experiments, the as-received Cu powders treated with 15% HCl. The micro-hardness of the as-received and the milled powders as well as the micro-hardness, porosity and macro-hardness of the produced composites quantified and the microstructure of composites studied via light microscopy. The results of this investigation on the Al-Cu powder mixture before sintering as well as on the sintered composite samples revealed the positive effect of chemical treatment on enhanced micro-hardness, decreased porosity and increased macro-hardness of the samples due to more effective interaction between Al and Cu and improved distribution of the Al2Cu intermetallic within the Al matrix. In addition, in all the performed experiments, using fine instead of coarse Cu powders resulted in enhanced interaction between Al and Cu particles and improved quality of samples.
Keywords
Insitu AlAl2Cu composite
Al-Cu powder mixture
Chemical treatment
Cu powder particle size
Porosity
Hardness
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  • Receive Date 19 April 2024
  • Revise Date 25 September 2025
  • Accept Date 01 July 2024