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Annealing Effects on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Ultrafine-Grained Al Composites Reinforced with Nano-Al2O3 by Rotary Swaging

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Abstract

Microstructure evolution and variations in mechanical properties of Al-Al2O3 nanocomposite produced by powder metallurgy were investigated and compared with commercially pure aluminum (Al-1050) after furnace annealing. Fine gas-atomized Al powder compacts were first sintered in flowing nitrogen, subsequently consolidated into wires by rotary swaging and eventually annealed at 300 and 500 °C for 24 h each. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy with energy-dispersive spectroscopy was utilized to document the microstructure evolution. Rotary swaging was proven to lead to a marked decrease in grain size. After heavy swaging to true deformation degree of φ = 6 and annealing at 500 °C, obvious recrystallization was observed at Al-1050’s existing grain boundaries and the crystals began to grow perpendicular to the flow direction. In the Al-Al2O3 nanocomposite, fabricated from d50 = 6 μm Al powder, recrystallization partially occurred, while grains were still extremely fine. Due to the dual role of fine-grained Al2O3 dispersion strengthening, the nanocomposite showed improved mechanical performance in terms of tensile strength, approximately twice higher than Al-1050 after annealing at 500 °C.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. FRF-TP-16-017A1) and the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2013AA031104).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Advanced Materials and Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Cunguang Chen & Zhimeng Guo

  2. School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Wenwen Wang

  3. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Chunbao Sun

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA

    Alex A. Volinsky & Vladislav Paley

Authors
  1. Cunguang Chen
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  2. Wenwen Wang
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  6. Vladislav Paley
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Correspondence to Cunguang Chen.

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Chen, C., Wang, W., Guo, Z. et al. Annealing Effects on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Ultrafine-Grained Al Composites Reinforced with Nano-Al2O3 by Rotary Swaging. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 27, 1738–1745 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-018-3301-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-018-3301-2

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