Effect of Fabrication Processes on the Deformation and Fracture Behaviour of Sic/Al Composites

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of microstructural parameters as a result of three different processing methods on the deformation and fracture properties of SiC/Al composites. The influences of heat treatment are also investigated. It was found that without heat treatment, the SiC reinforcement phase significantly improved the strength of the composite compared to the Al matrix material. However, the strengths of the heat-treated composites were roughly in the same range as those of heat-treated Al alloy. The ball-milled composite has higher strength, but lower fracture toughness compared to the powder and flake composites. Between the latter two, the powder composite has higher toughness.