Effect of heat treatment on hardness of AIN Reinforced Al-Si alloy composite

Abstract

Introduction: Aluminum alloys are amongst the most promising structural materials due to their high specific strength and stiffness, which are widely used in automobile industries for structural components in engines and other parts. Aluminum alloys reinforced with ceramic particles have shown significant improvements in mechanical and tribological properties including sliding and abrasive wear resistance [1]. Age strengthening is one of the most important strengthening processes for aluminum matrix composites [2]. Many works on SiCp/Al alloys and Al2O3/Al alloy composites have been reported [3-6] but very few reports on the use of AlN as reinforcement for Al alloy composites [7]. In this paper, we report a study on the heat treatment effects on hardening behaviour and microstructures of an AlN reinforced Al-Si alloy.