Mechanical, microstructural, and fatigue characteristics of hot consolidated Al-SiC nanocomposites

This paper investigates the microstructural evolution and mechanical behavior of Al matrix especially the fatigue life when is reinforced with SiC nano particles. Al-SiC nanocomposite is fabricated using powder metallurgy (PM) methods. In this regards, suitable amounts of Al micro-particles and SiC nano-particles are milled using an attritor milling for 12 h. The milled powder is cold pressed under 400 MPa pressure and then is hot extruded with 8.5:1 extrusion ratio. This fabrication procedure gives nearly highly densified samples with less than 1% porosities. The main objective of this research paper is to study the effects of SiC nano reinforcement on variations of relative density, Vickers micro-hardness, compressive and tensile behaviors, and fatigue resistance of the consolidated nanocomposite specimens. The results presented an enhancement in micro-hardness, compressive and tensile strengths as well as a reduction in relative density of the material as the reinforcement content increases to 3 vol%. Further, fatigue life of the samples was improved after reinforcement by SiC nano particles.