Effects of Be additions on microstructure, hardness and tensile properties of A380 aluminum alloy

The effects of beryllium (Be) on the microstructure, hardness and tensile properties of A380 aluminum alloy were investigated. The base and Be-containing A380 alloys were conventionally cast in a ductile iron mold. The microstructure evolution was investigated using SEM and optical microscope. The mechanical properties were assessed using tensile and hardness tests, finally the rapture surfaces of the used samples were studied to reveal the fracture mechanism in the presence of Be. The results revealed that the plateletβ intermetallic phases were transformed into relatively harmless Chinese script Be?Fe phase and eutectic Si phases changed from flake-like particles into fine ones. The corresponding ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation values increased from 270 MPa to 295 MPa and 3.7% to 4.7%, respectively. Additionally, the hardness of A380 alloy decreased continuously with increasing Be content. While the fracture surfaces of the unmodified A380 alloy tensile samples showed a clear brittle fracture nature, while finer dimple and fewer brittle cleavage surfaces were seen in the alloys with Be addition. Moreover, in the presence of Be, due to the refined phases, there has been a decrease in the values of hardness.

Fabrication and Studying the Mechanical Properties of A356 Alloy Reinforced with Al₂O₃-10% Vol. ZrO₂Nano-particles through Stir Casting

Al2O3-ZrO2 with a high level of hardness and toughness is known as ceramic steel. Due to its unique properties it can be used as a reinforcement in fabrication of metal matrix composites. In this study, nanoparticles of Al2O3-10% ZrO2 with an average size of 80 nm were used to fabricate Al matrix composites containing 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 wt.% of the reinforcement. The fabrication route was stir casting at 850?C. There is no report about usage of this reinforcement in fabrication of composites in the literature. The microstructures of the as-cast composites were studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Density measurement, hardness and tensile properties were carried out to identify the mechanical properties of the composites. The results revealed that with increasing the reinforcement content, density decreased while yield, ultimate tensile strength and compressive strength increased. Also, hardness increased by increasing the reinforcement content up to 1 wt.% Al2O3-10% ZrO2 but it decreased in the samples containing higher amounts of reinforcement.

Microstructure Modification of Powder Compact of Al-Zn-Mg Nanostructured Alloy by a Semisolid Thermomechanical Processing

A thermomechanical process （TMP） consisting of three cycles of cold pressing at 154 MPa and liquid-phase sintering at 600 ℃ for 30 min in each cycle was applied to modify the microstructure of nanostructured A1-Zn-Mg alloy. The alloy powders were produced by mechanical alloying. Also, solid-state sintering at 550℃ for 90 min was done to compare the results with those obtained from the TMP. The powders and the thermomechanically （TM） processed samples were analyzed by XRD to reveal the present phases in addition to calculating the crystallite size changes by the Wil- liamson-Hall method. Moreover, scanning electron microscope was employed to observe the morphology of the powder and the microstructures of the sintered and the TM processed samples. The results revealed that the TMP affected the microstructure noticeably as well as the microhardness by removing the continuous grain boundary porosities and uniform distribution of the intermetallic phase particles as well as obtaining a near globular microstructure after the second cycle. Also, the average grain sizes in the first and the second cycles of the TMP were lower than those of the sintered sample. Furthermore, nanocrystalline grains were stable up to the second cycle of the TMP.