Influence of cooling condition on properties of extruded aluminum alloy matrix composites

This paper discusses the influence of applying water cooling after extrusion on the stability of mechanical properties on the AA6061-7.5 vol. % SiC composite rods cross section. The materials were prepared via powder metallurgy processing using extrusion with a reversibly rotating die at the last technological stage. The mechanical properties, texture and microstructure of composites were analyzed following the experiment. In both deformed samples the XRD measurements indicated that the <111> was the predominant orientation, which, however, was weaker towards the edge of the specimen. Moreover, some differences in microhardness between the center and the edge of water cooled rod were observed.