Properties of Al–Al2O3 composites synthesized by spark plasma sintering method

This work presents fabrication and characterization of Al–Al2O3 composite materials with a 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% volume fraction of reinforcing phase particles. The spark plasma sintering method was applied for the purpose of fabricating these materials. The obtained Al–Al2O3 composites were characterized with an porosity from 1.27% to 5.07%. It was proven that as the content of hard ceramic particles increases in the composite, its density, hardness, and compression as well as tensile strength increase. The conducted study showed that a composite with 20% alumina content is characterized by a larger hardness (1355 MPa) and compression strength (247 MPa).