Development of aluminum matrix composite with improved mechanical properties by the directional regulation of the chemical composition of the reinforcing dispersed phase surface

Abstract

For obtaining new metal matrix composites, one needs to develop approaches to the selection of reinforcing additives, the identification of the relationship of the properties of the resulting material with the composition, concentration and morphology of the additives introduced, the creation and search for new affordable and cheap additives. As one of the solutions to this problem, the authors propose to obtain aluminum matrix composites based on the structuring of an Al matrix with titanium carbide nanostructures ($\leq 5$ nm) by atomic layer deposition (ALD). The resulting material has an important feature — the absence of obvious interface boundaries between the Al matrix and the reinforcing carbide phase, that ensures the components binding into a single whole. Composites, for the hardening of which a reinforcing phase with surface carbide nanostructures is used, in addition to a higher tensile strength, demonstrate a more plastic fracture pattern characteristic of dispersed hardening of materials. With an increase in the amount of the composite reinforcement from 1 to $5\%$, embrittlement of the material does not occur, as is observed when carbide particles are introduced into the Al matrix by other methods. 

Keywords

• mechanical properties
• fracture
• plasticity
• metal matrix composites
• nanostructures
• titanium carbide