Synthesis, processing and phase analysis of quasi crystal particle reinforced aluminium matrix composite

ABSTRACT

The main goal of the present study involves synthesis of Al-Cu-Fe based icosahedral quasi-crystal (QC) particles reinforced Al matrix composite and analyze its microstructure, phase and hardness property. The icosahedral quasi-crystal phase nominal composition was taken to Al₆₃Cu₂₅Fe₁₂ (%). Mechanical alloying as a viable powder metallurgy route was used to synthesize the quasi-crystal phase with various milling parameters. The X-Ray diffraction analysis immediately after milling revealed that there was no formation of quasi-crystal phase exclusively by milling. However, after annealing the 100 hours milled powders at 600°C for 4 hours, the quasi-crystal phase was observed to form. The quasi-crystal phase was identified to be the 1/1 cubic approximant (α-Al_85.5Cu_36.95Fe_15.5) of the icosahedral phase. The quasi-crystal particles reinforced aluminum composites were prepared with different concentrations (10–50 weight %) of the quasi-crystal phase by cold compaction. The compacted samples were then sintered for 4 hours at different temperatures such as 400°C, 500°C, and 600°C. The icosahedral Al_64.3Cu_23.5Fe_12.2 phase formation was observed in the 600°C sintered composite, whose composition is approximately similar to the nominal composition used. The results uncovered that, while increasing the concentration of the reinforcement quasi-crystal phase, the hardness of the composite increased.

KEYWORDS:

• Quasicrystal
• composites
• aluminium
• Al-Cu-Fe
• icosahedral
• microstructure
• hardness
• X-ray
• Diffraction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).