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In the development of metal-matrix composites, reinforcements of aluminium and its alloys with ceramic materials has been pursued with keen interest for quite sometime now. However, a systematic comparison of the effect of different reinforcements in powder-processed aluminium and its alloys is not freely available in the published literature. This study examines the influence of SiC, TiC, TiB 2 and B4C on the modulus and strength of pure aluminium. B4C appears slightly superior as a reinforcement when comparing the effect of SiC, TiC, B4C and TiB 2 on specific modulus and specific strength values of composites. However, TiC appears to be a more effective reinforcement, yielding the best modulus and strength values among those considered in this study. The differences in thermal expansion characteristics between aluminium and the reinforcements do not seem to explain this observation. The other advantage of TiC is that it is economically a more viable candidate as compared to B4C and TiB 2 for reinforcing aluminium alloys. It is suggested that the superior effect of TiC as a reinforcement is probably related to the high integrity of the bond at the AI-TiC interface. Keywords. Aluminium-matrix composite; silicon and metal carbides; powder metallurgy; thermal expansiQn.

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