Pre-review study of the aluminum/alumina master alloy made through pressure infiltration

The work is focused to prepare Al based master-alloy pellet with 50 vol.% of Al2O3 for subsequent manufacturing of aluminum matrix composites with desired amount of reinforcement (5-20%). Since master-alloy is manufactured via pressure infiltration and proper interface between particles and melt is required for uniform particle distribution within the melt, fundamental correlation between parameters of pressure infiltration and quality of the Al/Al2O3 interface is revealed in this study. Standard observation techniques as 3-D computed tomography (CT), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) are used for structural characterization. Drop test was used to estimate effect of time, temperature, annealing of Al2O3 and its type on the wettability of Al2O3 with Al. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetry (TG) were used to study changes within the Al2O3 prior infiltration. Stir casting was used to prepare the final composite and dynamical mechanical analysis (DMA) was used to estimate the Young's modulus of as-cast composite. The proper infiltration parameters was defined in this work and it were shown that the infiltration temperature and pressure have direct correlation on the interface between particle and aluminum.