The Effect of Plasma Spraying on the Microstructure and Aging Kinetics of the Al-Si Matrix Alloy and Al-Si/SiC Composites

The Al-Si (LM 13)-based matrix alloy reinforced with SiC particles containing 10, 20, and 30 vol.% SiC particles were spray-formed onto Al-Si substrates. The sprayed samples were directly subjected to a standard aging treatment (T551). From the experiments, it was observed that the high rate of solidification resulted in very fine silicon particles which were observed as continuous islands in the matrix and each island exhibited several very fine silicon crystals. Analysis showed that plasma-spraying caused an increased solid solubility of the silicon in the aluminum matrix. DSC measurements in the permanent mold-cast Al-Si matrix alloy and plasma-sprayed Al-Si matrix alloy showed that plasma-spraying causes an increase in the amount of GP-zone formation owing to the very high rate solidification after plasma-spraying. In the plasma-sprayed Al-Si/SiC composites GP zones were suppressed, since particle-matrix interfaces act as a sink for vacancies during quenching from high plasma process temperature. Introduction of SiC particles to the Al-Si age-hardenable alloy resulted in a decrease in the time required to reach plateau matrix hardness owing to acceleration of aging kinetics by ceramic SiC particles.