Effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and properties of in-situ Mg₂Si reinforced hypereutectic Al-18%Si matrix composites

Abstract

The in situ preparation of particle reinforced metal matrix composites (PRMMCs) can prevent the particle surface from pollution, improve the wettability of particles and matrix metals, and reduce the production cost of composites. In this paper, in situ Mg2Si reinforced hypereutectic Al-18%Si matrix composites were prepared by adding an appropriate amount of magnesium. However, the Mg2Si enhanced phase often has developed dendrites, which are easy to cause stress concentration and cut apart the matrix, resulting in the decrease of the mechanical properties of the material. Therefore, in this study, necessary solution treatment and aging treatment were carried out, and the effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and properties of the prepared composites was discussed. The results showed that the in situ Mg2Si reinforced Al-18%Si matrix composites with an ideal microstructure could be prepared by adding 4% Mg. After solution treatment at 545 °C for 8 h and aging treatment at 170 ± 2 °C for 8 h, the coarse dendrites of Mg2Si were broke and granulated, which improved the strength, hardness and wear resistance of the composites. Compared with the common as cast hypereutectic Al-18%Si alloy, the hardness and the strength of the prepared composites were increased by 30% and 46%, respectively. Besides, the granulation process of the in situ Mg2Si phase was explained with the Gibbs-Thomson theorem in this paper.