Development of Ductile Beryllium Composites

The work of the second year to produce ductile beryllium composites by liquid-phase sintering is reported. Ductility in a predominantly beryllium composite was sought through the attainment of a structure in which beryllium particles are enveloped in a ductile metallic matrix. As the result of the investigation of aluminum-silver binary al!oys, aluminum-40 to 50% silver compositions were added to the silver-5 to 8% aluminum compositions as candidate matrices satisfying the requirenent that the flow stress of the matrix be matched to that of the principal phase. Composites produced for final evaluation contained defects originating from the processing schedule. The feasibility of applying liquid- phase sintering to produce beryllium composites has been established. However, in order to obtain a fair evaluation of the question of ductility improvement, it is necessary to develop compacting and sintering procedures which will yield sound material for mechanical testing