j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 3 : 7 1 6 e7 2 6

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmrt

Original Article

In-situ synthesis of nano SiC particles in AleSieC

system at 750
C

Chongchong Wu b, Tong Gao a, Jinfeng Nie c, Liang Jiang b, Xiangfa Liu a,*
a
Key Laboratory for Liquid-Solid Structural Evolution and Processing of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong
University, 17923 Jingshi Road, Jinan, 250061, PR China
b
Institute for Advanced Studies in Precision Materials, Yantai University, Yantai, 264005, PR China
c
Nano Structural Materials Center, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and
Technology, Nanjing, 210094, PR China

article info abstract

Article history: For SiCp/Al matrix composites, nano SiC particles (SiCp) show more obvious strengthening
Received 31 January 2021 effect than micro ones. In general, nano SiCp are added into Al matrix by ex-situ method,
Accepted 3 May 2021 during which interfacial and agglomerating problems often generate. In-situ method is
Available online 12 May 2021 considered an effective way to solve above problems, but the in-situ synthesis of nano SiCp
hasn't been reported. In this research, nano SiCp were in-situ synthesized in AleSieC
Keywords: system via a liquidesolid reaction method at relative low temperature (750
C). Micro-
Nano SiC particles structure observation shows that the obtained nano SiCp have 3C polytype and show
Al matrix composites hexagonal plate morphology, with average size under 100 nm. In order to lower its surface
In-situ synthesis energy, nano SiCp tend to connect with each other and form a coherent interface with
Synthesis path stacking faults. Further research reveals that nano SiCp are formed via a two-step reaction.
Strengthening mechanism Nano SiCp can be introduced into AleSi alloy and elevate its strength both at room and high
temperature.
© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC
BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

widely studied and used in many engineering areas [4e6].

1. Introduction
Metal matrix composites (MMCs) are attracting tremendous
attention owing to their elevated mechanical, frictional and
thermal properties [1e3]. Among them, aluminum which has
high ductility and thus can transfer load efficiently is a
commonly used matrix, while SiC particles (SiCp) with high
elastic modulus, tensile strength, and thermal expansion co-
efficient are one of the most suitable reinforcement. Till now,
SiCp reinforced Al matrix composites (SAMC) have been
Research show that the properties of SAMC, such as strength,
ductility and some elevated-temperature properties, can be
further improved with by decreasing the size of SiCp [7e9],
because nano SiCp show more obvious Orowan strengthening
effect than micron SiCp [10e12]. Hence, the addition of nano
SiCp into Al matrix has called more and more attention
[13e17].
Nano SiCp are normally introduced into Al matrix using
external methods, such as stir casting, powder metallurgy and

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: xfliu@sdu.edu.cn (X. Liu).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2021.05.008
2238-7854/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 3 : 7 1 6 e7 2 6
Fig. 1 e Morphologies of raw materials: (a) Al, (b) Si and (c) graphite powders.
mechanical milling [18e24]. For instance, Mazahery [25] ob-
tained a nano SiCp reinforced A356 composite using stir
casting method. The tensile strength of A356 has been
improved significantly. Matli [26] fabricated an extruded nano
SiCp reinforced pure Al matrix composite using mechanical
milling and microwaving sintering process. The microhard-
ness, yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of Al matrix
have been elevated simultaneously. Although, in these
studies, nano SiCp have been successfully added into Al ma-
trix, two main problems still need to be solved: For one thing,
nano SiCp often show obvious agglomeration tendency in the
matrix due to its high surface energy; For another, the inter-
facial bond between SiCp and Al is always weak, due to the
contamination of ex-situ SiCp’ surface and the poor wetta-
bility between SiC and Al.
In-situ method can elevate the thermodynamic stability,
interfacial cleanliness and distribution of nano particles, and
is considered a promising way to solve above mentioned
problems. In-situ method has been used to synthesize nano
TiC, nano AlN particles and so on [27e38]. However, few
studies have been reported on the in-situ synthesis of nano
SiCp in Al alloy. The only relevant reports are focus on the
growth of SiC single crystals and the wettability of AleSieC
systems [39e43]. Calderon and Mao observed SiCp at the
AleSi/graphite interface during their study on the wettability
of AleSi alloy and graphite. The earliest study on the in-situ
synthesis of SiC was reported by Wu. They obtained rather
uneven distributed SiCp in AleSi melt at 1223 Ke1423 K.
In our previous study, a liquidesolid reaction method has
been developed to synthesize in-situ SiCp at relatively low
temperature (as low as 750
C) [44e48]. Compared with
externally added SiCp, in-situ SiCp can form a much stronger
interfacial bonding with Al matrix and can evidently elevate
the mechanical properties of the matrix. Based on these re-
sults, in this research, a modified liquidesolid reaction
method was taken to synthesize nano SiCp. The microstruc-
ture and morphology of nano SiCp have been observed, the
synthesis path has been discussed, and the strengthening
effect of nano SiCp on AleSi alloy has been studied.
2. Methods
Commercial Al (99.7% purity, all compositions quoted in this
work are in wt% unless otherwise stated), Si (99.9% purity,
Sinopharm Chemical Reagent, China) and graphite (99.2%
purity, 1.3 mm, Huatai Graphite, China) powders were used in
717
this research. The morphologies of the raw materials are
shown in Fig. 1.
Nano SiCp was synthesized in Ale22.5Sie5SiCp composite
with liquidesolid reaction method. Compared with our pre-
vious work, in order to decrease the size of the raw powders, a
long-time milling process was added after the mixing process.
At first, Ale26Sie1.5C green powders were prepared and
mixed in blender mixer for 12 h. The mixed blends were then
fully milled for 12 h in a planetary ball mill with the ball-to-
powder ratio of 8:1. After that, the powders were pressed
into a cylindrical mould at 275 MPa with cold isostatic press
(CIP), with a size of f60  50 mm. Finally, the compacted
samples were sintered in a vacuum resistance furnace at
750
C for 2 h with vacuum degree higher than 103 Pa and
then cooled to room temperature in the furnace. Thus,
22.5Sie5SiCp composite was obtained.
To study the microstructure of nano SiCp, samples were cut
from the center of the composite and extracted by 4 vol%
hydrochloric acid. The extracted powders were then grinded
and further studied.
To study the strengthening effect of nano SiCp,
Ale22.5Sie5SiCp composite, as master alloy, was introduced
into an Ale12Si alloy. The melt was then stirred for 10 min at
850
C and hold at 750
C for 30 min. After refined by high
purity argon, the melt was finally cast into an iron mould at
750
C. Thus, Ale12Sie1SiC composite was obtained.
The tensile properties of the cast samples at room tem-
perature and 300
C were tested. The tensile tests were con-
ducted with 2 mm/min constant crosshead speed with
extensometer. The samples tested at room temperature and
300
C were prepared according to ASTM E8/E8M15 and
ASTM E21-2009 with 25 mm and 50 mm gauge length
respectively.
The crystal structure of nano SiCp was analyzed using X-
ray diffraction (XRD, Rigaku D/max-rB, Cu Ka radiation). The
microstructure of the composite and nano SiCp were
observed using field emission scanning electron microscopy
(FESEM, JEOL JSM-7800F) with an energy dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy (EDS) detector. The fine microstructure of nano
SiCp powders and the interfaces between them were
analyzed using a high-resolution transmission electron mi-
croscopy (HRTEM, JEOL 2010F) and an atomic resolution
scanning transmission electron microscope (S/TEM, FEI
Titan G2 60-300). The reaction behavior of the green samples
was studied using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC,
Netzsch STA 404C TG-DSC) heated at 10 K/min to 800
C
under an argon protective atmosphere.
718 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 3 : 7 1 6 e7 2 6
Fig. 2 e XRD patterns of as-sintered SiCp/AleSi composite and the standard diffraction peaks of Al, Si, 3CeSiC and 6HeSiC.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Synthesis and microstructure of nano SiC
Fig. 2 is the XRD patterns of the as-sintered composite. As
shown, only diffraction peaks of a-Al, Si and SiC can be
observed, which means the graphite in the raw materials
has completely converted to SiC. Fig. 2 also shows the
diffraction peaks of 3C (green ones) and 6H (blue ones) SiC:
Most of their diffraction peaks are overlapped, and in
AleSieC system, only the diffraction peak at 34.1
can be
seen as the characteristic peak of 6HeSiC. As shown, in this
composite, no diffraction peaks can be observed at 34.1
.
Therefore, the SiC phase can be preliminarily confirmed to
be 3CeSiC.
Fig. 3 shows the microstructure of the composite. As
shown in Fig. 3a, besides a-Al and Si (marked with orange
arrow) phases in the matrix, many light grey particles can also
be observed. From the EDS point analysis in Fig. 3d, these
particles are mainly consisting of C and Si elements, with ratio
of nearly 1:1, which prove that they are in-situ synthesized
SiCp. The morphology of these particles can be seen more
clearly under an enlarged view in Fig. 3b and c. Most particles
have nanoscale size under 200 nm, and only a small number
of them have micron size.
According to above analysis, with liquidesolid reaction
method, nano SiCp were successful synthesized in
Ale26Sie1.5C system. Based on the overall reaction of this
system in Eq. (1), the composition of the obtained composite is
Ale22.5Sie5SiCp.
AlSiðlÞ
½Si þ CðsÞ !SiCðsÞ
To study the microstructure of nano SiCp, the composite
was extracted by 5 vol% hydrochloric acid and the extracted
particles were observed under TEM and the results are shown
in Fig. 4. In Fig. 4a, b and c, plenty of nano particles with
hexagonal or stripe shape can be observed. Fig. 4c is the SAED
patterns of these particles. From the calibration of the poly-
crystalline diffraction rings in Fig. 4d, nano particles with
regular shape are in-situ synthesized nano SiCp. In Fig. 4d,
weak diffraction patterns of a-Al matrix can also be observed.
It is worth noting that the diffraction rings of nano SiCp in
Fig. 4c are not uniformly scattered, but some spots are more
concentrated and brighter, which means some of the nano
particles have the same crystal orientation.
HRTEM was used to characterize the detailed micro-
structure of nano SiCp and the interface between them, and
the results are shown in Fig. 5. From the HRTEM image in
Fig. 5a, nano SiCp show polygon morphologies and obvious
interfaces exist between them. Fig. 5b is the enlarged image
of nano particles (the green rectangle area) in Fig. 5a. From
the inset FFT image in Fig. 5b, only one set of diffraction
patterns can be observed, which indicates that the nano SiCp
in Fig. 5b have the same crystal orientation. Fig. 5c and d is
the enlarged two-dimensional lattice image of Fig. 5b with
the corresponding crystal plane of each lattice noted. These
planes have precise correspondence with 3CeSiC, which
further proves that the nano particles obtained in this
research are 3CeSiC. Fig. 5e, f and g, which are the enlarge-
ment of the orange rectangle area in Fig. 5a, show the
detailed microstructures of the interface between nano
particles. As shown by the orange arrows in Fig. 5e and the
extended lines in Fig. 5g, stacking faults (SFs) can be
observed at the interface. What's more, as shown by the
(1) orange arrows in Fig. 5a, SFs are common crystal defects at
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 3 : 7 1 6 e7 2 6 719

Fig. 3 e Microstructure of (a, b, c) as-sintered SiCp/AleSi composite and (d) the EDS analysis of the in-situ SiCp in the
composite. The orange arrow shows Si phase and the green ones show SiC phase. The EDS results in (d) are taken from the
area marked with green point in (b).

the interface of nano SiCp. The formation of coherent
interface and SFs is further discussed in section 3.4.
From above analysis, nano SiCp with 3C polytype are syn-
thesized via liquidesolid reaction method and coherent in-
terfaces are common between them.
3.2. Morphology and size of nano SiCp
As shown by Fig. 4b, nano SiCp show two different morphol-
ogies: hexagon and strip. From Fig. 6, these two morphologies
are actually the two-dimensional projections of nano SiCp in
different directions. As shown in Fig. 6c, nano SiCp show

Fig. 4 e TEM analysis of the extracted nano SiCp: (a, b, c) bright field TEM image and (d) the selected area electron diffraction
(SAED) patterns of (b).
720 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 3 : 7 1 6 e7 2 6

Fig. 5 e HRTEM analysis of nano SiCp: (b) HRTEM image and FFT patterns of the green rectangle area in (a); (c) enlargement of
the rectangle area in (b); (d) enlargement of the rectangle area in (b); (e) HRTEM image of the orange rectangle area in (a); (f)
enlargement of the rectangle area in (e); (g) FFT patterns of (e). The orange arrows show the stacking faults (SFs) at the
interface between SiCp. The blue arrows show the extended lines between FFT spots.

hexagonal plate morphology in three-dimension. When dimensional lattice results in Fig. 5c, the exposed surfaces of
viewed along the upper or lower surface (Fig. 6a), they show SiC plate are indexed and the indices of each surface are
hexagon morphology, while when viewed along the side sur- shown in Fig. 6a. Based on above analysis, the crystal model of
face (Fig. 6b), they show strip morphology. Based on the two- nano SiC plate is drawn in Fig. 6c: the upper and lower
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 3 : 7 1 6 e7 2 6 721

Fig. 6 e (a, b) Morphologies of nano SiC plate in different directions; (c) crystal model of nano SiCp.

surfaces of SiC plate are {011} crystal planes while the side
surfaces are {200} and {11-1} crystal planes.
According to our previous study [49], 6HeSiC also show
hexagonal plate morphology during its early growth stage.
However, for 6HeSiC plate, all the side surfaces are {0001}
crystal planes, so its upper and lower surfaces present
regular hexagonal shape with 120
angle between the
edges. By contrast, as shown in Fig. 6a, the side surfaces
of nano 3CeSiC plate are {200} and {11-1} crystal planes,
and the shape of the upper and lower surfaces of nano
3CeSiC plate is irregular, and the angles between the
edges are not the same (110
and 125
).
The size distribution of nano SiCp was further studied
and the statistics results are shown in Fig. 7. In Fig. 7a, a
large number of nano SiCp with regular morphologies can
be observed. According to their different orientations
shown in Fig. 6a and b, they are divided into two groups
and marked with purple lines and blue lines separately.
The statistical results are shown in Fig. 7b and c. As
shown, most particles have size below 100 nm in all di-
rections. The average radius of the particles is about
62.6 nm and the average thickness is about 25.2 nm. The
radius-thickness ratio is about 2.5. Above results prove
that the SiCp obtained in this study are indeed nano
particles.
3.3. Synthesis path of nano SiCp
DSC and XRD are used to analyze the synthesis process of
nano SiCp (Fig. 8). Fig. 8a and b are the DSC heating and cooling
curve of Ale26Sie1.5C raw powder. As shown by the heating
curve in Fig. 8a, especially by its differential curve, only two
endothermic peaks appeared during heating: besides the
melting peak of AleSi eutectic at 583
C, another peak at 675
C
can also be observed. (Same information can also be obtained
from the cooling curve in Fig. 8b).
Research show that in AleSieC system, the following three
reactions may occur [44,47e49]:
Al(l) þ [Si] þ C(s) / SiC(s) þ Al(l) (2)
Al(l) þ C(s) / Al4C3(s) (3)
Al4C3(s) þ [Si] / SiC(s) þ Al(l) (4)
where [Si] represents the molten silicon in Al melt. According
to reference 39, among these reactions, only the reaction in
Eq. (4) is an endothermic reaction, which means that the peak
at 675
C in Fig. 8a stands for the transformation of Al4C3 to
SiC. Therefore, in this study, nano SiCp was synthesized via a
two-step reaction shown in Eqs. (3) and (4).

Fig. 7 e Size statistics of nano SiCp: (a) TEM image of nano SiCp; (b) surface diameter which is the statistical results of the
purple lined particles in (a); (c) thickness which is the statistical results of the blue lined particles in (a).
722 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 3 : 7 1 6 e7 2 6

Fig. 8 e DSC (a) heating, (b) cooling (green curve) and the corresponding differential curve (red curve) of Ale26Sie1.5C powder
with heating rate of 10 K/min under argon atmosphere; (c) XRD patterns of the powder before (red curve) and after (green
curve) milling and after (green curve) milling and the standard diffraction peaks of Al, Si and graphite.
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 3 : 7 1 6 e7 2 6 723

Fig. 9 e (a) The atom distribution of 3CeSiC (200) plane and (b) the atom stacking between (200) planes alone <011>
direction; (cee) three kinds of interfaces when nano SiCp connect with (200) plane. The large atoms in orange and red are Si
and the small atoms in green and yellow are C. The blue dotted lines in (b) indicate the projection of (200) plane. The blue
dotted rectangles in (d, e) indicate the area with stacking order change.

However, in the heating curve in Fig. 8a, no Al4C3 formation
peak can be observed, and therefore the synthesis process was
further studied. Fig. 8c is the XRD diffraction result of
Ale26Sie1.5C raw powders before (red curve) and after (green
curve) milling. As shown, after milling, the diffraction peak at
26.3
representing the graphite of the powder has dis-
appeared, which indicates that graphite has undergone an
amorphous transition during milling. Moreover, no crystalli-
zation C peak can be observed in Fig. 8a. Therefore, during the
synthesis of nano SiCp, C was reacted with Al in amorphous
state. Consequently, the formation reaction of Al4C3 in Eq. (3)
is a progressive process without fixed reaction temperature.
Based on above analysis, the synthesis process of nano
SiCp can be described as follows. After fully mixing, graphite
particles were uniformly distributed among aluminum and
silicon particles. During milling, graphite particles became
smaller and smaller at first and undergone amorphous tran-
sition under high energy after. During heating process, the
eutectic reaction between aluminum and silicon occurred
firstly at about 576
C, which facilitates the contact between
aluminum and carbon. The reaction between amorphous
carbon and aluminum would begin once AleSi melt was
formed and would continue until SiC was synthesized. When
the temperature was increased to about 661
C, SiC began to
form via the reaction shown in Eq. (4). The amorphous carbon
particles were very fine after high-energy milling, and as a
consequence, the synthesized SiC particles were also very
fine. Besides, due to the high surface energy of nano particles
and the poor wettability between SiC and Al [50e52], as shown
in Fig. 5, nano SiCp tended to connect with each other. As
shown in Fig. 6c, nano SiCp have three types of exposed sur-
faces. If these particles connect with each other by different
orientations, obvious distortion would be generated on the
interface, and therefore, connecting by same orientation is the
most efficient way. Finally, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the
synthesized nano SiCp often connect with each other with the
same crystal orientation.
During the growth and the connection of nano SiCp,
because the atom type (Si or C) for certain exposed surface is
random, as shown in Figs. 5a, b and e, stacking faults (SFs) are
easy to form at the interface. Fig. 9 is the schematic diagram of
the interface structure when two nano SiC particles are con-
nected with (200) plane. Fig. 9a shows the atom arrangement
of (200) plane while Fig. 9b shows the atom stacking orders of
(200) planes along <011> direction, which is in accordance
with the results in Fig. 5d. During the formation of nano SiCp,
the exposed surface of SieC bilayer, either Si or C face, is
random. As shown in Fig. 9c, when the exposed surfaces of the
particles are Si face on one side and C face on the other side,
the atom stacking orders at the interface are unchanged and
SFs are not generated. However, as shown in Fig. 9d and e,
when the exposed surfaces are Si faces or C faces at the same
time, the atom stacking orders near the interface are changed,
and as shown by the blue dotted lines, SFs are generated.
For real SiC crystal, due to the lamellar growth process and
the growth rate difference in different directions, the exposed
surface is always incomplete, which facilitates the formation
of defects such as SFs and dislocations at the surface.
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Fig. 10 e The effect of nano SiCp on the (a) room temperature and (b) 300
C tensile properties of Ale12Si alloy and the
microstructure of Ale12Si alloy (c) with and (d,e) without nano SiCp. The insert figure in (d) shows the microstructure and
the distribution of nano SiCp.

3.4. Strengthening of nano SiCp on AleSi alloy
In order to study the strengthening effect of nano SiCp on
AleSi alloy, Ale22.5Sie5SiCp composite, as the master alloy,
were introduced into the eutectic Ale12Si melt, and an
Ale12Sie1SiC composite was obtained. The tensile properties
of the composite at room temperature and 300
C were tested
and the results are shown in Fig. 10. As shown in Fig. 10a and
b, due to the introduction of nano SiCp, the tensile strength of
Ale12Si alloy has been obviously elevated both at room tem-
perature and 300
C: The tensile strength has been elevated
from 155 MPa to 174 MPa at room temperature and from
60 MPa to 69 MPa at 300
C, with an elevation of 12.3% and
15.0%, respectively.
The strengthening effect of nano SiCp can be ascribed to
two factors: the significant Orowan strengthening of nano
particles and the microstructure improvement of AleSi matrx
[10e12]. Fig. 10c and d are the microstructure of AleSi alloy
with and without nano SiCp. From Fig. 10c, in AleSi alloy,
eutectic Si showed long strip shape. These Si particles have
limited movement blocking effect to dislocations. Moreover,
at their needle-like edge, stress concentration is easy to
generate. By contrast, as shown in Fig. 10d, with nano SiCp
addition, the morphology of eutectic Si changed from long-
strip to short-block which can make contribution to the
strength improvement of AleSi alloy. Besides the Orowan
strengthening and the microstructure improvement of Si
phases, other strengthening mechanism such as geometri-
cally necessary dislocation strengthening (generating from
the elasticity modulus and yield strength difference between
SiCp and Al matrix) and thermal-matching dislocation
strengthening (generating from the thermal expansion coef-
ficient difference between SiCp and Al matrix) also contribute
to the strength improvement of Ale12Si alloy. The strength-
ening mechanism of nano particles on Al alloy has been re-
ported in our previous references [53e56].
The insert figure in Fig. 10d shows the microstructure of
nano SiCp in the composite. Due to the existence of the defects
(such as SFs) at the interface, the connection between nano
particles gradually failed under the impact of mechanical
stirring and heat flow during preparation process. As a result,
there are no obvious SiCp aggregation in the composite. As
shown by the insert figure in Fig. 10d, the maximum size of
SiCp cluster is about 500 nm, so the nano-properties of nano
SiCp would not be changed significantly.
Besides, as shown by the stressestrain curve, with the
addition of nano SiCp, the elongation of AleSi alloy, espe-
cially at 300
C decreased. Compared to Ale12Si shown by
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s r e s e a r c h a n d t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 2 1 ; 1 3 : 7 1 6 e7 2 6
Fig. 10c, in Ale12Sie1SiC composite shown by Fig. 10d and
e, due to the high surface energy of nano SiCp, during the
melting process, some non-metallic inclusions have been
rolled into the alloy, and at the same time nano SiCp
distributed inhomogeneous in the matrix. During the
deformation process especially at high temperature, these
defects acted as the crack source or the crack growth path,
and thus offset the contribution of nano SiCp, or even
decrease the elongation of the alloy. These defects should
be avoided in the future by proper techniques.
To summarize, in AleSieC system, nano SiCp with 3C
polytype was in-situ synthesized via a two-step reaction.
Nano SiCp can be introduced into AleSi alloy and show
obvious strengthening effect. This study offers an inno-
vative and feasible way to prepare nano SiC reinforced
AleSi composites. However, more attention should be
paid to the optimization of the preparation parameters, to
the elevation of nano SiCp dispersion in AleSi melt and to
the defect removal techniques in melting process.
4. Conclusions
(1) Nano SiC particles with 3C polytype were in-situ syn-
thesized in AleSieC system via liquidesolid reaction
method at 750
C. Nano SiC particles showed hexagonal
plate shape with average thickness about 25.2 nm and
average radius about 62.6 nm.
(2) To decrease the surface energy, nano SiC particles ten-
ded to connect with each other along the same exposed
faces and form a coherent interface. Stacking faults are
common near the interface, due to the randomness of
the exposed atom type at SiC surface.
(3) Nano SiC particles were synthesized via a two-step re-
action with Al4C3 as the intermediate phase. Al4C3 was
formed via a progressive reaction process.
(4) Nano SiC particles can be introduced into Ale12Si alloy
without obvious aggregation. Meanwhile, the tensile
strength of the alloy has been improved a lot, with the
elevation of about 12.3% and 15.0% at room temperature
and 300
C, respectively.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
This research was financially supported by the Key Program of
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51731007)
and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.
52071189).
725
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