Mechanisms governing the mechanical behavior of an AlSi-CNTs-SiCp hybrid composite

The aim of this paper was to study the mechanical behavior of a hybrid AlSi-2 wt.%CNTs-5 wt.%SiCp composite. For comparison purposes the unreinforced AlSi alloy, AlSi-2 wt.%CNTs and AlSi-5 wt.%SiCp composites were used. A powder metallurgy processing route was used to produce the unreinforced AlSi alloy and AlSi composites. Tensile and fatigue tests were performed and the results showed that the hybrid composite AlSi-2 wt.%CNTs-5 wt.%SiCp proposed in the present paper, provided better overall properties than the single reinforcement composites. The improvement is attributed to the combined effects of two different reinforcements that act at different scales.