Damping and mechanical properties of SiC particles reinforced aluminium matrix composites prepared by colloidal dispersion and suction filtration method

Abstract

In order to uniformly distribute SiC_p in the aluminium matrix and prepare SiC_p/Al composites with high mechanical and damping properties, a preparation method of colloidal dispersion and suction filtration was developed. It was observed from the microstructure of the composites that the SiC_p/Al composites prepared by colloidal dispersion and suction filtration method had good interfacial structures, and the interfacial reaction between SiC_p and aluminium matrix was effectively inhibited. Tensile mechanical properties at room temperature and damping properties in the temperature range of 25 °C to 300 °C were tested for the SiC_p/Al composites with volume fractions of 5% to 10%. The results showed that SiC_p/Al composites have excellent mechanical and damping properties when the volume fraction of SiC_p was 7%. This is because SiC_p were uniformly distributed in the aluminium matrix, and formed a good interfacial bond with the aluminium matrix, which benefitted both the interfacial slip loss and the strengthening effect of SiC_p.

Keywords

aluminium matrix composites SiC particles microstructure mechanical properties damping properties

Introduction

Al matrix composites combine the excellent properties of the reinforcement and Al matrix, and they have high specific strength and stiffness, a low coefficient of thermal expansion, wear resistance, high-temperature resistance, and good processability.^1–3 Discontinuous reinforcement-reinforced Al matrix composites are a type of Al matrix composites that have been investigated and used extensively.^4–6 They are created by incorporating ceramic particles as a form of discontinuous reinforcement into the Al matrix. Silicon carbide particles (SiC_p) are an inexpensive, easily accessible, and high-performing reinforcement. SiC_p-reinforced Al matrix (SiC_p/Al) composites are widely used in aircraft, armament and civil applications, such as optical precision instruments, vehicle engine pistons and sporting goods, because of their many excellent properties.^7–9 However, as science and technology advance continuously, the performance requirements for mechanical equipment on materials rise. To improve the safety, dependability, and service life of the equipment, the material must not only have excellent mechanical properties but also have good damping vibration absorption.¹⁰

Several studies have been conducted by researchers to increase the damping properties of Al matrix composites.¹¹ Singh et al.¹² prepared titanium oxide (TiO₂) and nanocrystalline lithium titanate (Li₄Ti₅O₁₂) coated core–shell structures of SiC using a novel hydrothermal technique and applied them to Al matrix composites. In order to improve the damping capacity of the Al matrix composites, the stirring friction treatment was used to refine the Al matrix grains and fully disperse the reinforcement particles. Yang et al.¹³ investigated the damping properties of in-situ grown carbon nanotubes reinforced Al matrix composite foams. The results demonstrated that the damping capacity of carbon nanotube/Al composite foams was greatly enhanced by the addition of carbon nanotubes. In order to study the damping characteristics of NiTi_p/6061Al laminar composites, Ding et al.¹⁴ used a rolled composite process to introduce a layer of NiTi particles with phase transition characteristics into a 6061 Al matrix. The results showed that the composites’ low-temperature damping properties were improved by the synergistic interaction of phase transition damping and interfacial damping, while their high-temperature damping properties were improved by the interfacial damping behaviour between particles. Chu et al.¹⁵ prepared SiC fibre-reinforced Al matrix composites and investigated their damping properties. Due to the substantial loss of vibrational energy through slip at interfaces, grain boundaries, and dislocations, the damping properties of the composites were much higher than that of the matrix. Although there are more studies on the damping properties of Al matrix composites, there are fewer studies on the simultaneous improvement of the mechanical properties and the damping properties of Al matrix composites.

Currently, ball milling is the primary technique used for producing SiC_p-reinforced Al matrix composites.^16–18 However, in order to prevent oxidation of the Al matrix, the ball milling process must be carried out under vacuum or inert gas protection, which results in a complicated and expensive procedure.¹⁹ Additionally, the Al matrix could become harder during the ball milling process, which might change the Al matrix composites’ ability to dampen vibrations.²⁰ It was the first time we developed colloidal dispersion and suction filtration method to prepare SiC_p/Al matrix composites. In this work, in order to simultaneously improve the mechanical and damping properties of Al matrix composites, SiC_p/Al composites were prepared by colloidal dispersion and suction filtration method. The effect of SiC_p volume content on the mechanical and damping properties of Al matrix composites was investigated.

Experimental

Raw materials

Al powder (purity: ≥99%) provided by Southwest Aluminum Co., Ltd. of China was used as the Al matrix. Table 1 shows the main components of Al powder. SiC particles (purity: ≥99%) provided by Forsman Co. Ltd. of China were used as reinforcement. Hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC, purity: ≥99.5%) provided by Aladdin Co., Ltd. of China was used as a reagent for the preparation of the colloidal solution. Figure 1 shows the molecular formula of HEC.

Table 1.

Main components of Al powder.

Elements	Fe	Mn	Mg	Si	Zn	Ti	Cu	Al
Mass fraction (wt-%)	≤0.035	≤0.03	≤0.03	≤0.25	≤0.05	≤0.03	≤0.03	Other

Fabrication of SiC_p/Al composites

A schematic diagram of the colloidal dispersion and suction filtration processes used to prepare SiC_p/Al composites was shown in Figure 2. The first step was to prepare a colloidal solution. The process involved adding the weighed HEC to distilled water and mechanically agitating it until it completely dissolved, forming a colloidal solution with a mass concentration of around 3 g/L. After that, the SiC_p and Al powder will be distributed. SiC_p and Al powder were added to the colloidal solution and mechanically stirred to evenly distribute SiC_p and Al powder throughout the colloidal solution. The extra colloidal solution was subsequently pumped off. Pouring the colloidal solution mixed with SiC_p and Al powder into the mould and using the filtration device to remove the extra colloidal solution produces a well-blended composite powder. This filtration device was made up of a glass filter cartridge, a glass tube, and a vacuum filtration bottle. The glass tube was connected to the filtration bottle by a rack, and the filter cartridge was situated halfway between the glass tube and the vacuum filtration bottle. The composite powder was then sintered in a vacuum environment. The composite powder was placed into a graphite mould and sintered by hot pressing at 680 °C. The composite powder was found to be difficult to fuse at too-low temperatures, while the Al powder would melt and flow out of the mould’s gaps at too-high temperatures. Thus, the optimum sintering temperature was found to be 680 °C. During the sintering process, a pressure of 15 MPa was applied and the pressure was held for 30 minutes. When the furnace temperature was lowered to room temperature following sintering, the SiC_p/Al composites were taken out.

In SiC_p/Al composites, the volume fractions of SiC_p were 5%, 7%, and 10%, respectively. The SiC_p/Al composites having a volume fraction of 5% SiC_p were referred to as SiC_p/Al-5 for the sake of simplicity in the following description. The SiC_p/Al composites having a volume fraction of 7% SiC_p were referred to as SiC_p/Al-7. The SiC_p/Al composites having a volume fraction of 10% SiC_p were referred to as SiC_p/Al-10. For comparison, the same preparation procedure was used to produce an Al matrix.

Characterisation

The microstructure and fracture morphology of SiC_p/Al composites were characterised using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy dispersive spectrum (EDS). X-ray diffractometers (XRDs) were used to analyse the phase compositions of SiC_p/Al composites. The microstructure of the interface between SiC_p and Al matrix was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM, FEI). The density of SiC_p/Al composites was measured according to Archimedes’ law. By dividing the measured density by the theoretical density, relative density was calculated. Using a Vickers hardness tester (load of 1 kg, time of 10 s), the specimens’ Vickers hardness was determined at room temperature. The material's tensile properties at room temperature were tested in accordance with ASTM D3552-12 test standard. The mechanical testing machine used was a WDW-100 type with a 0.001/s strain rate. Each set of specimens for the tensile tests, which were performed on dog-bone-shaped specimens, was tested three times to get the average value. The tested composite fracture surfaces were observed and analysed using SEM. A Q800 dynamic thermal analyser was used to examine the damping properties of composites in single cantilever mode. The test parameters were temperature 25–300 °C, heating rate 5 °C/min, and strain amplitude 4 × 10⁻⁵.

Results and discussions

Micromorphology of the original material

Figure 3 shows the SEM micromorphology of the original powders and the mixed powders after colloidal dispersion and suction filtration. The SEM micromorphology of SiC particles is shown in Figure 3(a). SiC particles present sharp points and edges with an average particle size of about 5 μm. It is advantageous for the SiC_p/Al composites’ damping properties that this type of polygonal SiC_p may develop more interfacial structure with the Al matrix.²¹ Figure 3(b) shows the SEM micromorphology of the Al powder. The Al powder was found to be teardrop-shaped, with an average particle size of roughly 20 μm. This might be because pure Al is softer and produces Al powder in the form of teardrop-shaped. The micromorphology of the mixed powders after colloidal dispersion and suction filtration is shown in Figure 3(c). The surface of Al powder has SiC_p adsorbed on it, as can be seen. The ability of colloidal solutions to disperse powder is mostly owing to the presence of hydrophilic and non-polar groups in the HEC, as seen in Figure 1. The surface of the powder can be bonded with non-polar groups, and hydrophilic groups can be adsorbed with water molecules, which reduces the surface tension between the powders and the colloidal solution and makes it easier for the powders to disperse in the solution.²² Additionally, the colloidal solution is viscous and has the ability to adhere tiny SiC_p to the surface of the Al powder throughout the pumping filtering process, preventing SiC_p from being sucked out.²³

Microstructure analysis of SiC_p/Al composites

Figure 4 shows the microstructure of SiC_p/Al composites. The microstructure of SiC_p/Al composites with a 5% SiC_p volume fraction is shown in Figure 4(a) and (b). It was found that SiC_p were uniformly distributed in the Al matrix and formed a tight bind with the Al matrix. Furthermore, it was found that the composites had a dense structure and no pores or flaws. Figure 4(c) and (d) shows the microstructure of SiC_p/Al composites with a SiC_p volume fraction of 7%. It can also be seen that SiC_p were uniformly distributed into the Al matrix and the SiC_p/Al composites had a dense structure. As a result, microstructural investigations revealed that when the SiC_p volume fraction was less than 7%, the colloidal solution was capable of dispersing SiC_p uniformly into the Al powder, resulting in dense SiC_p/Al composites. Figure 4(e) and (f) shows the microstructure of SiC_p/Al composites with a SiC_p volume fraction of 10%. As shown in Figure 4(e) and (f), when the SiC_p volume percentage is 10%, holes occur in the composites due to SiC_p agglomeration. This is because when the volume percentage of SiC_p is too high, the viscosity of the colloidal solution increases, making mixing more difficult during the mechanical mixing process. As a result, SiC_p cannot be effectively dispersed through colloidal solution, resulting in SiC_p agglomeration in composites. Due to the poor infiltration of the Al solution at the lower preparation temperature (680 °C), the Al solution could not infiltrate into the SiC_p agglomerates, resulting in defects in the composites.²⁴

In order to further evaluate the interfacial bonding condition between SiC_p and the Al matrix, the interface between SiC_p and the Al matrix was observed and analysed by TEM, as shown in Figure 5. An enlarged image of the localised area from Figure 5(a) is shown in Figure 5(b). From the figure, it is clear that SiC_p and the Al matrix are strongly connected and that there is no evidence of a reaction between SiC_p and the Al matrix at the interface of the composites. However, in other research, an interfacial interaction between SiC_p and the Al matrix was discovered to form Al₄C₃. The reaction equation is shown in Eq. (1).²⁵

4 Al + 3 SiC = A l_{4} C_{3} + 3 Si

(1)

Al₄C₃ is a brittle substance that hurts the interfacial bonding between SiC_p and the Al matrix.²⁶ However, no interfacial reaction between SiC_p and Al matrix was found in this study. This might be because the low preparation temperature of the composites prevents interfacial interactions from happening.

Phase composition analysis

Figure 6 shows the XRD diffraction pattern of the Al matrix and SiC_p/Al composites. Figure 6(a) shows the XRD pattern of the Al matrix. It was found that only sharp Al peaks were detected in the Al matrix. This occurs as a result of Al having a higher degree of crystallisation, which produces sharper diffraction peaks. Additionally, no other material phases were found in the Al matrix, which further suggests that the colloid has left very little residue there and has had no impact on it. Figure 6(b)–(d) shows the XRD patterns of SiC_p/Al composites with different SiC_p volume contents. In SiC_p/Al composites, SiC peaks were also seen in addition to Al peaks. Moreover, in SiC_p/Al composites, there was no sign of the production of Al₄C₃, an interfacial reaction product between SiC_p and Al matrix. This is in agreement with what Figure 5 shows as an observation. Therefore, the SiC_p/Al composites prepared by colloidal dispersion and suction filtration effectively avoided the interfacial reaction between the SiC_p and Al matrix.

Figure 7 shows the EDS scanning analysis of SiC_p/Al composites. Figure 7(a) shows the SEM image of the scanned area. Figure 7(b)–(d) shows the elemental distribution of the scanned area. Figure 7(b) and (c) shows the distribution of Al and Si elements, respectively. The Si element in Figure 7(c) is from SiC_p. It can be seen as a clear outline of Si elements that have a largely uniform distribution. Therefore, the EDS scanning analysis of the microstructure of SiC_p/Al composites also showed that SiC_p were uniformly distributed in the Al matrix. It further demonstrates that colloidal dispersion and suction filtration are efficient methods for producing SiC_p/Al composites with uniformly distributed reinforcement and dense structure.

Mechanical properties

The Vickers hardness of the Al matrix and SiC_p/Al composites with different SiC_p volume contents are shown in Figure 8. It can be seen that the Al matrix has a Vickers hardness of 35 HV. However, the Vickers hardness of SiC_p/Al increased to 41 HV when 5 vol.-% SiC_p was added to the Al matrix. Compared to the Al matrix, the Vickers hardness of the SiC_p/Al-5 composites was increased by 17%. Moreover, as the volume content of SiC_p increases, the Vickers hardness of SiC_p/Al composites also increases. When the SiC_p content was 10 vol.-%, the Vickers hardness of SiC_p/Al-10 was 50 HV. Compared to the Al matrix, the Vickers hardness of the SiC_p/Al-10 composites was increased by 43%. On the one hand, this is because SiC_p has a high Vickers hardness. On the other hand, SiC_p played a reinforcing role in the Al matrix, which improved the ability of SiC_p/Al composites to resist deformation.²⁷

The density and mechanical properties of the Al matrix and SiC_p/Al composites were tested. Table 2 presents the density and mechanical properties of the Al matrix and SiC_p/Al composites. The Al matrix has a density of 2.70 g/cm³, as shown in Table 2. However, after adding SiC_p to the Al matrix with contents of 5 vol.-% and 7 vol.-%, respectively, the density of SiC_p/Al composites reached 2.71 g/cm³. This is because SiC_p has a higher density than Al, increasing the density of SiC_p/Al composites. While the content of SiC_p was increased to 10 vol.-%, the density of SiC_p/Al composites decreased to 2.7 g/cm³. This may be caused by defects in the SiC_p/Al-10 composites. The relative density of SiC_p/Al composites was examined in order to better analyse the SiC_p/Al composites with internal defects. For the Al matrix, the relative density is 100%. For SiC_p/Al composites with SiC_p volume contents of 5% and 7%, the relative densities were 99.3% and 99.1%, respectively. However, for SiC_p/Al composites with a SiC_p volume content of 10%, the relative density was 97.5 g/cm³. It is evident that when the SiC_p volume content is 10%, the densification of SiC_p/Al composites is reduced. This result is consistent with the observations in Figure 4 and the measurements of density. According to the results of tensile mechanical property testing, Young’s modulus, tensile strength, and elongation for SiC_p/Al composites with a SiC_p volume content of 5% were 80 GPa, 112 MPa, and 16%, respectively. The Young's modulus and tensile strength of the SiC_p/Al-5 composites increased by 15% and 75%, respectively, as compared to the Al matrix, while their elongation reduced by 29%. When the volume content of SiC_p was 7%, Young’s modulus and tensile strength of SiC_p/Al-7 composites reached 83 GPa and 121 MPa, respectively. In addition, they also maintained a 12% elongation at break. This is because SiC_p were evenly distributed throughout the Al matrix, which serves as a strong enhancing factor. However, the tensile strength of SiC_p/Al-10 composites declined to 93 MPa and its Young’s modulus was only 83 GPa when the volume content of SiC_p was 10%. In addition, their elongation at break also exhibits a notable reduction, with a value of 6%. When the volume content of SiC_p reached 10%, hole defects started to emerge in SiC_p/Al composites, which could easily cause stress concentration to form fracture origins when subjected to external forces and lower the composites’ mechanical properties.²⁸

Table 2.

Density and tensile mechanical properties of Al matrix and SiC_p/Al composites.

Materials	Density (g/cm³)	Relative density (%)	Young’s modulus (GPa)	Tensile strength (MPa)	Elongation (%)
Al matrix	2.70	100	70.1 ± 0.3	64 ± 2	22.3 ± 0.5
SiC_p/Al-5	2.71	99.3	80.3 ± 2.1	112 ± 2	15.9 ± 0.6
SiC_p/Al-7	2.71	99.1	82.6 ± 2.7	121 ± 3	12.3 ± 0.8
SiC_p/Al-10	2.70	97.5	83.2 ± 3.8	93 ± 6	6.2 ± 1.3

Fracture surfaces analysis

The microphotographs of the fracture surfaces of SiC_p/Al composites were analysed in order to further study the strengthening effect of SiC_p in the Al matrix, as shown in Figure 9. Figure 9(a) and (b) shows the microphotographs of fracture surfaces of SiC_p/Al composites with SiC_p volume content of 7%. The fracture surfaces of SiC_p/Al-7 composites can be found to have a lot of tear ribs and dimples. The Al matrix might fracture in the SiC_p/Al-7 composites, resulting in tear ribs, whilst the SiC_p might pull out and separate, forming dimples. These indicate that the fracture form of SiC_p/Al-7 composites is a ductile fracture. When SiC_p/Al composites are subjected to external forces, cracks can appear at the composites’ interface or in the Al matrix. During the crack extension process, it will be deflected along the SiC_p interface when it comes into contact with SiC_p that has weak interfacial bonding, and it will directly penetrate SiC_p when it comes into contact with SiC_p that has strong interfacial bonding. As a result, pull-out and pull-off of SiC_p occurred at the fracture surfaces of SiC_p/Al composites. The presence of SiC_p pull-out and pull-off at the fracture surfaces of SiC_p/Al composites indicated that SiC_p played a better strengthening role.^29,30 This is because strong interfacial bonding between SiC_p and the Al matrix enhances the load-bearing performance of the SiC_p, and weak interfacial bonding can absorb the fracture energy to inhibit crack extension. Figure 9(c) and (d) shows the microphotographs of fracture surfaces of SiC_p/Al composites with SiC_p volume content of 10%. It is found that there are a large number of holes in the fracture surfaces of SiC_p/Al-10 composites. As can be seen in Figure 9(d), these holes are the result of SiC_p agglomeration. On the one hand, SiC_p agglomeration may result in its inability to play an effective reinforcing role; on the other hand, the holes formed by SiC_p agglomeration can easily lead to stress concentration and the formation of crack sources under the action of external forces, reducing the mechanical properties of the composites. Therefore, SiC_p/Al-10 composites exhibit poor mechanical properties.

Damping properties

Its strain and stress phase deviation, the production of inelastic strain, the conversion of elastic vibration energy into other forms of energy, and the creation of energy loss are the factors that create the material's damping properties when it is subjected to external load vibration. The test temperature has a significant impact on the damping properties of Al matrix composites. On the one hand, an increase in test temperature causes the material’s defect activity to increase, which can absorb a significant amount of vibration energy and enhance the material’s damping properties; on the other hand, when the temperature rises, the interfacial bond strength of the composites falls and more energy is lost due to interfacial slide. The damping properties of SiC_p/Al composites have been tested in the temperature range of 25–300 °C to investigate the effect of temperature on those properties. Figure 10 shows the damping-temperature curves of SiC_p/Al composites at a 5-Hz test frequency. It can be seen that the damping of SiC_p/Al composites increases slowly with the test temperature at temperatures below 150 °C. However, the damping of the SiC_p/Al composites rapidly increases with the test temperature when the temperature exceeds 150 °C. This is due to the fact that at low temperatures, the interfacial bonding between SiC_p and the Al matrix is stronger, and interfacial slip loss has less of an effect on the composites. However, under high-temperature conditions, the interfacial bonding between SiC_p and Al matrix weakens and the interfaces are prone to slip loss of energy, which improves the damping performance of the composites.³¹ In addition, SiC_p volume fraction has a significant effect on the damping properties of SiC_p/Al composites. The damping properties of SiC_p/Al composites tend to increase and then decrease as the volume fraction of SiC_p increases. The SiC_p/Al composites exhibit excellent damping properties when the volume fraction of SiC_p is 7%.

In the case of weak interfacial bonding between reinforcement and matrix without considering the effect of temperature environment and loading frequency, the maximum value of interfacial contribution to damping can be expressed as Eq. (2)³²:

\tan ϕ = \frac{1.5 π μ δ_{r}}{δ_{o}} V_{R}

(2)

Where,

μ

is the friction coefficient between the reinforcement and the matrix;

δ_{o}

is the magnitude of the applied stress;

δ_{r}

is the radial component of

δ_{o}

at the interface;

V_{R}

is the volume fraction of the reinforcement.

For the case of strong interfacial bonding between the reinforcement and the matrix, the maximum value of the interfacial contribution to the damping can be expressed as Eq. (3):

\tan ϕ = \frac{4.5 (1 - υ)}{π^{2} (1 - υ)} V_{R}

(3)

Where,

υ

is the Poisson’s ratio of the matrix material.

For SiC_p/Al composites with different volume contents, the friction coefficients $μ$ between SiC_p and the Al matrix are the same because the shape and size of SiC_p are the same. Furthermore, under the same external load, $δ_{r}$ and $δ_{o}$ are identical. Therefore, in the case of weak interfacial bonding, it is evident from Eq. (2) that the interfacial contribution to damping is only correlated with the SiC_p volume fraction $V_{R}$ for SiC_p/Al composites with different volume contents. Similarly, Eq. (3) shows that the interfacial contribution to damping in the strong interfacial bonding case is only related to the volume fraction of SiC_p. The above two equations suggest that the damping properties of composites are closely related to their reinforcement volume content. In this study, when the volume fraction of SiC_p was 7%, SiC_p was uniformly dispersed in the Al matrix to form a good interfacial bond with the Al matrix, which improved the damping properties of the composites. However, when the volume fraction of SiC_p was 10%, the agglomeration of SiC_p appeared in the SiC_p/Al composite. The uneven distribution of SiC_p in the Al matrix will inhibit it from forming an effective interfacial bond with the Al matrix, thus reducing the damping properties of the composites.

Conclusion

In this work, in order to simultaneously improve the mechanical and damping properties of Al matrix composites, a colloidal dispersion and suction filtration method was developed to manufacture SiC_p/Al matrix composites. The microstructure, mechanical properties and damping properties of the SiC_p/Al composites were studied. The main results were as follows:

The colloidal dispersion and suction filtration is an effective method to disperse SiC_p in the Al matrix, and SiC_p/Al composites with dense structure and no interfacial reaction can be prepared by the colloidal dispersion and suction filtration method.

When the volume fraction of SiC_p was 7%, the SiC_p/Al composites exhibited excellent mechanical properties with Young's modulus, tensile strength and elongation of 83 GPa, 121 MPa and 12%, respectively. The reason for the relatively excellent mechanical properties is that SiC_p were uniformly distributed in the Al matrix, where they have a good strengthening effect.

The damping properties of SiC_p/Al composites tend to increase and then decrease as the volume fraction of SiC_p increases. The SiC_p/Al composites exhibit excellent damping properties when the volume fraction of SiC_p is 7%. This is because SiC_p and the Al matrix form a good interfacial bond that enables interfacial slip loss to enhance the composite's damping properties.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi Province (Grant No.: 2023-JC-QN-0612), the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program for College Students (Grant No.: S202310702060) and the Xi’an Association for Science and Technology Youth Talent Support Program (Grant No.: 959202313059).

Declaration of conflicting interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi Province (Grant No.: 2023-JC-QN-0612), the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program for College Students (Grant No.: S202310702060) and the Xi’an Association for Science and Technology Youth Talent Support Program (Grant No.: 959202313059).

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Lukac

Riehemann

. Two new high-damping magnesium composites. Phys Status Solidi (a) 2002; 193: 205–210.

Damping and mechanical properties of SiC particles reinforced aluminium matrix composites prepared by colloidal dispersion and suction filtration method

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Experimental

Raw materials

Fabrication of SiCp/Al composites

Characterisation

Results and discussions

Micromorphology of the original material

Microstructure analysis of SiCp/Al composites

Phase composition analysis

Mechanical properties

Fracture surfaces analysis

Damping properties

Conclusion

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

Declaration of conflicting interests

Funding

References

Fabrication of SiC_p/Al composites

Microstructure analysis of SiC_p/Al composites