Effect of Rolling Temperature on Mechanical Properties of Aluminum/SiC Metal Matrix Composite

Mechanical properties of aluminum and its alloys could be increased by adding proper ceramic particles to them and producing aluminum matrix composite. Usually a secondary processing such as rolling, extrusion or forging is applied in order to improve the properties of composites by further consolidation of them. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of rolling temperature on mechanical properties of aluminum/SiC composite. The composites have been fabricated by using powder metallurgy method in four steps including ball milling, degassing, cold-pressing and sintering. Then, warm rolling process has been carried out at 350 ºC and 450ºC in 3 passes. The effect of rolling temperature has been investigated on tensile behavior and Micro-hardness of the composites and the results have been compared to pure aluminum samples. According to the obtained results, ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and Micro-hardness of the samples have been increased significantly (UTS up to 458MPa, Hardness up to 145HV). Also, rolling at 350°C has better effects on mechanical properties, although it is not very considerable.