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ABSTRACT
The present study investigates the processing of heat-treated silicon carbide (SiC) particle-reinforced 6061 aluminum alloy (AA) composites. As-received SiC powders were heat treated at 1300ºC, 1400ºC, and 1500ºC in nitrogen atmosphere for 2 h, and the 6061 AA–SiC composites were developed by spark plasma sintering at 560ºC and 60 MPa for 5 min in argon atmosphere. The amorphous silicon nitride is found to form in SiC particles as a result of heating at 1400ºC. The microstructure of the composites exhibited uniform distribution of SiC or SiC/Si3N4 particles in 6061 AA matrix. Further, the heat-treated SiC-reinforced 6061AA composites exhibited improved mechanical properties. A typical combination of UTS of 240 MPa and elongation of 21% is obtained for the 6061 AA composites prepared using SiC powders heated at 1400ºC.
Acknowledgement
B. Venkata Manoj Kumar would like to acknowledge partial support from Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India through project No. ISRO/RES/3/680. S.R. Meka would like to acknowledge Max Planck Society for financial support to the Max-Planck Partner Group of the Department of Microstructure Physics and Alloy Design, Max Planck Institute for Iron Research, Dusseldorf, Germany at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India.