• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.26-41
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• 1997

The powder metallurgy (P/M) processed 2009 and 2124 Al composites reinforced with SiC particulates were studied by focusing on the effect of consolidation temperature on the microstructural and mechanical Properties. The mechanical properties such as tensile properties and microhardness of the second phases were analysed in relation to the microstructures observed by a SEM and an optical microscope. The in situ fracture process study using SEM showed that the grain refinement and the removal of manganese-containing particles often observed in the 2124 Al-${SiC}_{p}$ composites were important for the improvement of the mechanical properties. This study offers an optimum consolidation temperature for the control of the manganese-containing particles in the 2124 Al-${SiC}_{p}$ composites that yields mechanical properties higher than those of the 2009 Al-${SiC}_{p}$ composites.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.159-166
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• 1994

The variation of the microstructures and the mechanical properties with varying vacuum hot pressing temperature and pressure was investigated in PyM processed 20 vol%) SiCw/ 2124Al composites. As increasing the vacuum hot pressing temperature, the aspect ratio of whiskers and density of composites increased due to the softening of 2124Al matrix with the increased amount of liquid phase. The tensile strength of composite increased with increasing vacuum hot pressing temperature up to $570^{\circ}C$ and became saturated above $570^{\circ}C$, To attain the high densification of composites above 99%, the vacuum hot pressing pressure was needed to be above 70 MPa. However, the higher vacuum hot pressing pressure above 70 MPa was not effective to increase the tensile strength due to the reduced aspect ratio of SiC whiskers from damage of whiskers during vacuum hot pressing. A phenomenological equation to predict the tensile strength of $SiC_w$/2124AI composite was proposed as a function including two microstructural parameters, i.e. density of composites and aspect ratio of whiskers. The tensile strength of $SiC_w$/2124AI were found more sensitive to the porosity than other P/M materials due to the higher stress concentration and reduced load transfer efficiency by the pores locating at whisker/matrix interfaces.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.187-194
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• 2012

The strength of particle-reinforced metal matrix composites is, in general, known to be increased by the geometrically necessary dislocations punched around a particle that form during cooling after consolidation because of coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch between the particle and the matrix. An additional strength increase may also be observed, since another type of geometrically necessary dislocation can be formed during extensive deformation as a result of the strain gradient plasticity due to the elastic-plastic mismatch between the particle and the matrix. In this paper, the magnitudes of these two types of dislocations are calculated based on the dislocation plasticity. The dislocations are then converted to the respective strengths and allocated hierarchically to the matrix around the particle in the axisymmetric finite-element unit cell model. The proposed method is shown to be very effective by performing finite-element strength analysis of $SiC_p$/Al2124-T4 composites that included ductile failure in the matrix and particlematrix decohesion. The predicted results for different particle sizes and volume fractions show that the length scale effect of the particle size obviously affects the strength and failure behavior of the particle-reinforced metal matrix composites.