No abstract

Isothermal compression testing of BLA-SIC hybrid reinforced Aluminium composites was performed on Gleeble 3500 thermomechanical simulator under different deformation temperatures (300–400 °C) and strain rates (0.01–1 s‑1). The flow behaviour and the softening mechanisms were established using the trend of the stress-strain curves, activation energy and microstructural examination. The results showed that flow stress increased with decreasing temperature; but was not entirely strain rate sensitive − a characteristic identified in some Al 6XXX based metallic systems. Also, uncharacteristic flow stress oscillations were observed at strain rates of 0.01 and 0.1 s‑1 while steady state flow stress was observed at 1 s‑1. The hot working activation energy was ∼290.5 kJ/mol which was intermediate to the range of 111–509 kJ/mol reported in literature for various Al based composites. It was proposed that at strain rates of 0.01 and 0.1 s‑1, dynamic recrystallization and/or dislocations-reinforcements interactions were the dominant deformation mechanism(s), while at 1 s‑1, dynamic recovery was predominant.

The hot deformation behavior and workability of stir cast Al 6063 alloy reinforced with 6 wt. % Nickel particles was investigated using flow stress-strain plots, microstructural analysis and processing maps. The composites were hot compression tested at temperatures of 200 °C, 250 °C, 300 °C, 350 °C and 400 °C, and strain rates of 0.01, 0.1, 1, and 10 s−1, while scanning electron microscopy was utilized for characterization of the ensuing microstructures. The results show that the flow stress generally decreased with increase in deformation temperature, while anomalous flow stress oscillations, linked to the pattern of particle distribution in the matrix, characterized the flow stress - strain rate relations at 0.01 s−1 strain rate. The Murty’s and Gegel’s criteria utilized to establish domains of instability at the global strain of 0.5 were found to vary considerably and the combination of both left a very narrow safe processing window for the Al6063/Ni p composite. Safe regions with peak power dissipation efficiencies occurred at temperature range of ∼390 °C–400 °C and 0.01 s−1 in the lower domain and 260 °C–350 °C and 10 s−1 in the upper domain. The dominant flow softening mechanisms were established to be dynamic recrystallisation and dynamic recovery at the lower domain and upper domains, respectively.