Powder Metallurgy

ISSN: 0032-5899 (Print) 1743-2901 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ypom20

Fabrication of aluminium matrix hybrid

composites reinforced with SiC microparticles and
TiB2 nanoparticles by powder metallurgy

Aoshuang Tan, Jie Teng, Xiang Zeng, Dingfa Fu & Hui Zhang

To cite this article: Aoshuang Tan, Jie Teng, Xiang Zeng, Dingfa Fu & Hui Zhang
(2017): Fabrication of aluminium matrix hybrid composites reinforced with SiC
microparticles and TiB2 nanoparticles by powder metallurgy, Powder Metallurgy, DOI:
10.1080/00325899.2016.1274816

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00325899.2016.1274816

Published online: 12 Jan 2017.

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POWDER METALLURGY, 2017
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00325899.2016.1274816

Fabrication of aluminium matrix hybrid composites reinforced with SiC

microparticles and TiB2 nanoparticles by powder metallurgy
Aoshuang Tan, Jie Teng , Xiang Zeng, Dingfa Fu and Hui Zhang
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, PR China

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

In this study, aluminium matrix hybrid composites (AMHCs) containing 10 wt-%SiC Received 23 September 2016
microparticles and x wt-%TiB2 (x = 1, 3 and 5) nanoparticles were fabricated by powder Accepted 15 December 2016
metallurgy. The effect of TiB2 content on microstructure and mechanical properties were
KEYWORDS
examined by a combination of scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron Aluminium matrix hybrid
microscopy and tension tests. The results showed that mechanical properties of the hybrid composites; mechanical
composites were improved with increasing the content of TiB2 nanoparticles. Compared to properties; microstructure;
aluminium matrix composites reinforced with mono SiC microparticles, the ultimate tensile powder metallurgy
strength and yield strength of the AMHCs with additional 5 wt-% TiB2 nanoparticles were
increased by 64 and 23%, respectively. Based on the fractographs, the relevant fracture
mechanism was also discussed.

1. Introduction
Aluminium matrix composites (AMCs) have gained
wide applications in automotive, aerospace, electronic
equipment and other industrial fields because of their
high specific strength, low thermal expansion coeffi-
cient, good wear resistance and corrosion resistance
[1–3]. At present, compared to traditional AMCs
reinforced with microparticles (typically more than
10 μm), AMCs reinforced with nanoparticles(less
than 100 nm) exhibit excellent mechanical properties
and have obtained rapid development in recent years
[4]. There are some commonly used nano-scale rein-
forcing phases such as SiC [5], Al2O3 [6,7] and carbon
nanotubes(CNTs) [8,9]. Furthermore, aluminium
matrix hybrid composites (AMHCs) with multiple
reinforcements (hybrid composites), especially a com-
bination of nanoparticles and microparticles, are find-
ing increased applications because of improved
mechanical properties and wear resistance and hence
are better substitutes for single reinforced composites
[10–14].
When AMHCs are used as frictional materials, the
reinforcement particles with different sizes play differ-
ent roles in the matrix. Nanoparticles with better dis-
persion in the matrix can effectively improve the
performance of the matrix, which is the typical Orowan
strengthening mechanism. The application of nanopar-
ticles can not only strengthen the matrix but also main-
tain the ductility of the matrix alloy. Microparticles
play a supportive role to the skeleton in the matrix
and support friction load, which can greatly improve
the hardness and wear resistance of composite
materials. The integrated utilisation of nanoparticles
and microparticles can provide a better synergistic
enhancement in overall performance of the hybrid
composites. For AMCs, the ductility of the matrix
deteriorates with the addition of ceramic microparti-
cles due to their tendency to crack during bearing
load, especially with relatively high reinforcement con-
centration in the matrix. This problem can be solved by
appropriately decreasing the content of microparticles
and increasing the content of nanoparticles [13,15].
Furthermore, the enhancements in mechanical proper-
ties for AMHCs can be attributed to the obstruction of
dislocation movement by nanoparticles, as well as the
promotion of fine grain sizes [16,17]. Of course, it is
necessary to achieve a uniform distribution of nano-
particles in the matrix and good bonding between the
matrix and nanoparticles in order to improve compo-
site mechanical properties to the maximum extent.
Among various kinds of reinforcing particles, SiC
particle is the most widely used because its density is
very close to that of aluminium matrix. In addition,
TiB2 particle is portrayed to be an outstanding
reinforcement for aluminium alloys because TiB2
reveals outstanding features such as high melting
point (3063 K), high hardness (86 HRA or 960 HV),
high elastic modulus (530*103 MPa) and good thermal
stability. Moreover, TiB2 particle is known to be
strongly wetted by aluminium and does not react
with molten aluminium, thereby avoiding the for-
mation of brittle reaction products at the interfaces.
AMCs reinforced with TiB2 also exhibit high wear-
resistance property [18].

CONTACT Jie Teng tengjie@hnu.edu.cn College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China
© 2017 Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining Published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the Institute
2 A. TAN ET AL.
With respect to numerous methods of manufactur-
ing metal matrix composites, powder metallurgy is
considered as a better technique because of its low pro-
cessing temperature compared to melting techniques
so that it is easy to control the interface reaction
[19,20]. Meanwhile, the performance and stability of
the materials was significantly better than materials
prepared by other methods. The uniform distribution
of reinforcements is another advantage of powder
metallurgy technique. This can not only improve the
mechanical properties but also achieve the reproduci-
bility level in the properties [21]. In addition, powder
metallurgy can fabricate the net-shaped part at a low
cost [22].
This study aimed to fabricate the AMHCs
reinforced with both TiB2 nanoparticles and SiC
microparticles by powder metallurgy. Microstructure
and mechanical properties were investigated and the
related reinforcing mechanisms were also discussed.
2. Materials and experimental procedures
Atomised Al–7 wt-%Si alloy powders (Changsha Tian-
jiu, China) with an average particle size of 20 μm were
selected as the matrix material. Commercially available
β-SiC with an average particle size of 13 μm and TiB2
with an average particle size of 50 nm (Beijing Dk
Nano technology Co., Ltd) were used for reinforcing
the Al matrix.
In this study, in order to reveal the effect of TiB2
nanoparticles on mechanical properties of the hybrid
composites, the content of SiC microparticles was
kept constant at a mass fraction of 10%, and the con-
tent of TiB2 nanoparticles was 1, 3 and 5 wt-%, respect-
ively. The fabrication process was described as follows.
First, mixed powders containing Al matrix particles,
SiC and TiB2 particles were blended for 40 min using
an ultrasonic dispersion apparatus and then mechani-
cally milled for 4 h using a high energy ball mill at a
speed of 200 rev min−1 at room temperature. The
milling ball-to-powder weight ratio was 10:1. Both
the milling vial and ball were made of hardened steel.
3 wt-% of ethyl alcohol was used as a process control
agent (PCA). Then, the as-milled powders were conso-
lidated by cold compaction in a steel mould (40 mm in
diameter) with a load of 200 MPa for 30 min under
uniaxial load at room temperature. The relative density
of the cold compacts was approximately 90% of the
theoretical density. After cold processing, the billet
was pre-sintered at 883 K for 60 min under vacuum
condition with a level of 0.467 kPa. The relative den-
sity after sintering increased slightly up to 94%.
Finally, the as-sintered billet was hot extruded at
823 K at an extrusion ratio of 12:1. In order to facili-
tate the flow of the preform during extrusion, the
shape of the extrusion nozzle is designed to be fun-
nel-shaped with an angle of 150°. Bars of AMHCs
with a diameter of 10 mm were obtained. The extruded
bars were fully densified.
Tensile tests were performed at an initial strain rate
of 2.0 mm min−1 on an Instron tensile testing machine
at room temperature. Dog-bone shaped tensile speci-
mens with a gauge size of 5 mm diameter and 25 mm
length were prepared from the as-extruded bars,
according to ASTM E8M-2013a. Microstructure of
the hybrid composites was examined by scanning elec-
tron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron
microscopy (TEM) equipped with an energy dispersive
spectroscopy (EDS).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. SEM images of Al matrix powders and
reinforcements
Figure 1 shows the SEM images of Al matrix powders,
SiC and TiB2 particles before milling and as-milled
mixed powders. As seen in Figure 1(a), Al powders
were spherical with an average particle size of 20 μm.
SiC microparticles showed irregular shape with sharp
tips and edges (Figure 1(b)). TiB2 nanoparticles tended
to agglomerate due to its too small size (Figure 1(c)). It
can be seen from Figure 1(d) that SiC microparticles
were distributed evenly in the mixture powders after
ball milling process. Furthermore, ball milling resulted
in plastic deformation of the Al particles and the mean
particle size slightly grew up to 22 μm although the
ball-to-powder weight ratio was relatively low and
the milling time was shorter. TiB2 nanoparticles cannot
be found under this low magnification.
3.2. Microstructure of the composites
Figure 2(a)–(d) show the SEM microstructures of the
mono SiCp reinforced Al composites and the
AMHCs reinforced with 10 wt-%SiCp and 1, 3, 5 wt-
%TiB2, respectively. As can be seen in Figure 2, the
SiC microparticles (large and grey) were uniformly dis-
tributed in the Al matrix. The addition of TiB2 nano-
particles did not influence the distribution of SiC
particles in the matrix. TiB2 nanoparticles tended to
agglomerate together and formed clusters (small and
light spots), with a relatively uniform distribution in
the Al matrix.
Figure 3(a) shows the TEM images of the 10 wt-%
SiC/Al–Si composites. The EDS results of selected area
1 and 2 in Figure 3(a) were displayed in Figure 3(c,d)
and they corresponded to SiC reinforcement and the
Al–Si matrix, respectively. As seen from Figure 3(a),
a good metallurgical bonding the Al matrix and SiC
particle were achieved in the hybrid composites. The
TEM image of the interface at higher magnification
was shown in Figure 3(b). It was obvious that the
interface was clear and smooth. This indicated that
 POWDER METALLURGY 3

Figure 1. SEM images of initial materials: (a) Al–7Si powders; (b) SiC microparticles; (c) TiB2 nanoparticles; (d) mixed powders after
mechanical milling.

no interface reaction occurred. It is well known that in Al4C3 at the Al/SiC interface from the dissolution of
the case of the Al/SiC system there is the potential for SiC by liquid aluminium. Moreover, the processing
the development of the harmful reaction product temperature and duration time seriously affect the

Figure 2. SEM micrographs of the as-prepared composites with different TiB2 content: (a) 0; (b) 1 wt-%; (c) 3 wt-%; (d) 5 wt-%.
4 A. TAN ET AL.

Figure 3. TEM image and EDS of the 10 wt-%SiC/Al–Si composites.

Figure 4. TEM images of the as-prepared composites with different TiB2 content: (a) 1 wt-%; (b) 3 wt-%; (c) and (d) 5 wt-%.

Figure 5. The variation in tensile strength, yield strength and
elongation of the as-prepared composites as a function of
TiB2 content.
tendency for Al4C3 formation. In this study, the pre-
sintering was conducted at 883 K only for 60 min
and the hot extrusion was carried out at 823 K. This
did not facilitate the reaction between SiC particle
and the Al matrix. Furthermore, it has been demon-
strated that silicon is a versatile element that can be
used to control the reactions at the Al/SiC interface
and prevent the potential attack of the SiC reinforce-
ments by liquid aluminium. In other words, silicon
can inhibit the interface reaction [23–25]. For SiCp/
Al–Si composites, this is beneficial to obtain good
mechanical properties.
Figure 6. The fracture surfaces of the as-prepared composites after tensile tests with different TiB2 content: (a) 0; (b) 1 wt-%; (c)
3 wt-%; (d) 5 wt-%.
POWDER METALLURGY 5
Figure 4 shows the TEM images of the hybrid compo-
sites with different content of TiB2 nanoparticles. As
seen in Figure 4, TiB2 nanoparticles tended to be located
at grain boundaries and form clusters around the grains,
which may influence the mechanical properties of the
hybrid composites. In addition, the average grain size
of the hybrid composites decreased with increasing con-
tent of TiB2 nanoparticles. This indicated that the intro-
duction of TiB2 nanoparticles into the Al matrix can
facilitate the grain structural refinement. It is well
known that the pinning effect of small second-phase
particles on grain boundaries, as also called Zener–Hol-
lomon pinning, is an important mechanism for control-
ling grain growth [26]. The TiB2 nanoparticles locating
at the junction of three grains can retard grain growth by
pinning the grain boundaries (Figure 4(d)). In addition,
the dislocations were produced because of thermal mis-
match between the Al matrix and TiB2 reinforcements,
and the dislocation density followed an increasing trend
with increase in TiB2 contents. The combined effect
resulted in strengthening enhancement of the hybrid
composites.
3.3. Mechanical properties
The variation in mechanical properties of the as-pre-
pared composites as a function of nanoparticle TiB2
content is plotted in Figure 5. It indicated that TiB2
nanoparticles had a strengthening effect on the Al–Si
6 A. TAN ET AL.
matrix. In addition, the strength enhancement
depended on the content of TiB2. As can be seen, for
the hybrid composites with 1 wt-% TiB2 nanoparticles,
the ultimate tensile strength was increased by 17%,
while the yield strength showed a slight decrease, as
well as a higher standard deviation value. When the
content of TiB2 nanoparticles was increased to 5 wt-
%, the ultimate tensile strength and the yield strength
were increased by 64, 23%, respectively. The strength
enhancement of the hybrid composites was likely to
be associated with Orowan’s mechanism that allows
the TiB2 nanoparticles to become obstacles to the
migration of dislocation (Figure 4). The results above
showed that for the hybrid composites with low TiB2
nanoparticles content, i.e. 1 wt-%, this mechanism
did not operate well because the nanoparticles tended
to be present as nano- or micro-clusters in the matrix.
In contrast, with increasing the content of TiB2 nano-
particles, relatively uniform distribution can be
obtained and a greater proportion of the TiB2 nanopar-
ticles can play a role in enhancing strength of the
hybrid composites.
Figure 6 shows SEM tensile fracture morphologies
of the different composites. It can be seen that the
appearance of the fracture surfaces showed a similar
characteristic, as well as a little difference. A number
of cleavage facets and cracks were found on the frac-
tured surfaces and debonding was also observed at
the SiC particle/Al matrix interface, clearly indicating
a brittle fracture mode. In this study, the SiC micropar-
ticle was the dominated reinforcing phase. The big
blocky SiC particles cut apart continuity of the matrix
and accelerate the initiation and propagation of the
crack, thereby resulting in the brittle fracture and low
elongation. With adding higher content of TiB2 nano-
particles (5 wt-%), small dimples and tearing edges
were observed, which improved the ductility of the
hybrid composites to some extent. Agglomerated
nanoparticles (showed by white arrows) and silicon
cracking (showed by white rectangle) were observed.
The variations of the SEM images of the tensile fracture
surface of the different composites were correspon-
dence with the variations of mechanical properties.
4. Conclusions
In the present study, aluminium matrix hybrid compo-
sites reinforced with SiC microparticles and TiB2 nano-
particles were fabricated by powder metallurgy. The
microstructures and mechanical properties of the
hybrid composites have been investigated. Based on
our results, the main conclusions can be draw as follows:
(i) Both SiC microparticles and TiB2 nanoparticles
were relatively uniformly distributed in the Al
matrix. This helps to improve the performance
of the hybrid composites.
(ii) The content of TiB2 nanoparticles has a greater
influence on the mechanical properties of the
hybrid composites. For the hybrid composite
with 5 wt-% TiB2 nanoparticles, the ultimate ten-
sile strength and yield strength were increased by
64 and 23%, respectively. But the tensile strength
was not improved significantly with a low content
of TiB2 nanoparticles.
(iii) The SEM images of the tensile fracture surface of
the different composites indicate a brittle fracture
mode for both SiCp/Al–Si composites and (SiCp
+ TiB2)/Al–Si composites, which results in low
elongation. This can be ascribed to the cracks
and debonding of SiC microparticles.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the
authors.
Funding
The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support of the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos.
51574118, 51571087), the Natural Science Foundation of
Hunan Province (No. 2015JJ4017).
Notes on contributors
Aoshuang Tan is a postgraduate student at the College of
Materials Science and Engineering at Hunan University,
Chang, PR China. Her scientific interest is focused on the
fabrication of aluminium matrix hybrid composites.
Jie Teng received the Ph.D. degree in Materials Processing
Engineering in 2006 from Hunan University, Chang, PR
China. He is currently an associate professor of the
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan
University. His main research activity is devoted to the
fabrication of aluminium matrix composites and its
application.
Xiang Zeng is a postgraduate student at the College of
Materials Science and Engineering at Hunan University,
Chang, PR China. Her scientific interest is focused on the
fabrication of aluminium matrix composites reinforced
with graphene.
Dingfa Fu received the Ph.D. degree in Materials Science in
2001 from Central South University, Chang, PR China. He is
currently an associate professor of the College of Materials
Science and Engineering, Hunan University. His research
interests are in metal material processing technology and
performance, microstructures and properties of nanometer
functional ceramics.
Hui Zhang received the Ph.D. degree in Materials Processing
Engineering in 2000 from Central South University, Chang,
PR China. He is currently a professor of the College of
Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University. He
has been active in severe plastic deformation of aluminium
alloys, fabrication and thermomechanical treatment of alu-
minium matrix composites.

ORCID
Jie Teng http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5524-1122
Dingfa Fu http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9009-2898
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