--_..

_________

--____

The composite material produced in this investigation \\itc an A 3% cat aluminium allq r&forced with i and IO vni.!,,
fraction of glass particulatc~. A 356 aluminium alloy bith no particul;tte rcini;wwm~nt
was also uwd iis a control ;rlloy lix
purposes of comparison. The agcing behaviour of unreinforced and reinforced materials was studied under both nd;ural and
artificial ageing. Aiso. the efiect of deformation before agrinp on the ageing kinetics ~a!, s:udi&. Thr cfl;-ui> uf the i&nf<rrccilt<llt
voIume fraction on the ageing behaviour of AI-based composites \vere s>~stematicallgevaluated by means o!hardness measurements. It was found that the overall age-hardening sequence of the A 356 alloy was not changed by the addition of glass particles.
However, the precipitation kinetics of the matrix alloy were affected by the presence of the reinforcement. the times to achieve
peak hardness being shortened i* the composites. In the case of deformation before ageing, the agcing was faster than that of the
undeformed material. Also. metallographic examination showed that the prcsrncc of glass particulatrs r&inrd the structure OF the

matrix.

C: 1997 Ekevier Science S.A.

lure: Strengtlicning mcchanisni

1. Introduction

Cast AI-Si-Mg alloys have been itlvestigated widely

in the area of heat treatment, because of th.e many
applications in these alloys in the aerospace and automotive industries. In contrast to the extensive data
available on the heat treatment of these alloys, relatively little is documented for their composites. Earlier
investigators [ 1- 51 reported that the ageing kinetics are
faster in composites than in the control alloy. The
accelerated ageing occured as a result of different factors, the major of which are the high dislocation density
and the small sub-grain size, these being generated by
the difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion
between the reinforcement and the Al-matrix (CTE).
Arsenault [6] and Arsenault and Shi [7] predicted an
increase in strength due to dislocation generation that is
directly proportional
to the volume fraction of the
reinforcement and inversely proportional to the square
root of the particle size.

* Correspondingauthor. Fax: + 790898 794108.

0924-0136j97,/$I7.00 ;G 1997 ElsevierScienceS.A. All rights reserved
PII 50924-0136(96)02497-i

There are other factors alfccting the mechanism of

strengthening, such ;IS the presence of high diffusive
intcrtitccs, and a residual stress licld in the matrix
surrounding the reinforcement [S]. The magnitude of
this residual stress depends upon the volume fraction,
the morphology and size of the reinforcement. the type
of alloy of the matrix, and the effective temperature
change [ 11.
In the present work the ageing behaviour in Al --7Si I Mg alloy reinforced with O15 and 10 vol.% fraction of
glass particulates was studied.

2. Experimental
Commercial A 356 Al-alloy \vas used in thi; study as
the matrix alloy, with the following composition in
wt.%: 6.96 Si, I Mg, 0.374 Fe, 1.94 Cu. 0.0844 Mn,
0.295 Zn. 0.0928 Ni, 0.0165 Cr. 0.1X7 Pb, 0.175 Sn.
0.130 Ti, 0.0484 V, 0.0964 Co, and balance Al. The
glass particulates. of grade 40-50 pm. were added to
the molten alloy using the vortex method, the volume
fraction (Vf) of this reinforcement being 5 and lo%.

Z.M.

74

El-Bradie,

A.N. Abd El-A:im

/ Jourrral of Materials

Processing Techology

66 (1997) 73- 75

Hardnese HV

Hardness HV

40
20
0
0

1 __I__-__.

l-l:

A
5

20

Time
Fig. I. Hardness-time curve for the solid solution heat-treatment
the control alloy at 540C.

40

60

60

loo

120

140

of

The obtained alloy and composites were homogenized

at 550 C for 2 h and then furnace-cooled. Solid solution heat treatment was carried out at 540 C for
different times to obtain the appropriate time for maximum strength, see Fig. I.
Three different ageing heat-treatment
conditions
were investigated: (i) artificial ageing at 170 C; (ii)
natural ageing at room temperature, and (iii) IWO
compression after solid solution, then artificial ageing
at 170 C.
Hardness measurements were performed using a
Vickers hardness tester with a load of 10 kgf (98.1 N)
each hardness value being averaged over eight measurements. Hardness values were determined as a function
of ageing time for the three ageing heat-treatment
conditions. The structure of the produced composites
and matrix alloy were examined microscopically.

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Microstructures
The microstructures of the unreinforced anJ reinforced materials in the cast condition are shown in Fig.

Fig. 3. Hardness-time

1BO

200

curves for natural ageing.

2. The unreinforced

matrix shows that the eutectic Si

particles are not fibrous, which indicates that the Si
particles are not modified, see Fig. 2(a). On the other
hand, the matrix structure of the composite with 5% Vf
shows that the eutectic phase is modified near to the
particles, whilst the eutectic silicon is coarse away from
the reinforcement, see Fig. 2(b). At larger volume fraction of glass particles in the composite (10% Vf), complete modification of the eutectic phase was obtained,
see Fig. 2(c). This can be attributed to the presence of
sodium in the glass particles, which will modify the Si
morphology
of the Al-Si-Mg
alloy in the as-cast
condition. At the same time, this refinement suggests
that the dispersed glass particles can act also as sites of
nucleations.
3.2. Ageing bekaviour
The natural- and artificial-ageing curves are presented in Figs. 3 and 4, respectively. It can be noted
that as the volume fraction of glass particulates increased the ageing rate increased and the level of hardness became greater. The ageing peak for 0, 5 and 10%
Vf of glass at 170 C is attained at 17, 12 and 9 h,
respectively, whilst the time for natural ageing was 150,
126 and 99 h for the different percentages of glass
particles, as mentioned in the order above.

Fig. 2. Microstructure of the reinforced and reinforced material in the cast condition ( x 52): (a) unreinforced alloy; (b) 5% Vf

(C)IOU/Vf glass particles.

160

Time Hr

glassparticles,and

lution

specimens, see Fig. 5? the apeing kinetics ;irt:

faster than those of undeformed materials. The peak

Fig. 4. Hardness- time curves for artificial ageing at 170 C.

Since the strengthing phase in AI-SIC

(Mg2Si) is formed during the following transformation
sequence
[9. IO]:
SSS --) Wzones - I,-+ /I--P
/?(Mg,Si), the presence of glass particulates results in
a suppression of the CP zones and an enhancement in
the transformation
of 8 and /d phases [IO,1 11. The
mechanism proposed for the acceleration nucleation
of Mg$i precipitates has been related to heterogeneous nucleation at dislocation sites or nucleation in
the stress field of the reinforcements [S, 11.I?].
0th
mechanisms are caused by internal stresses due to the
thermal expansion mismatch between the matrix and
the reinforcement. This mismatch leads to the formation of elastic stress fields around the particles and
hence to an enhancement in the generation of dislocations which consequently reduce the incubation time
for nucleation and increase the diffusivity of solute
atoms leading to an accelerated growth of the precipitates. This in turn results in faster peak aged conditions and a higher level of hardness. as compared
with the unreinforced alloy.
In the ageing of deformed super-saturated solid so-

Hardnear HV
1801
160 -

-4
e-

--OS0

conditions for 0, 5 and 10% glass are rerrched at 8.

5.5 and 3.5 h. respectively. The ageinp cttrves are
characterized
by a drop in hardness in the early
stages. This drop in hardness can be attributed to the
elitninati0n and relaxation of deformation distortions
e structure, and hence softening is obtained due
to recovery and recrystallization.
With increasing
ing due to the decomposition of the susolid solution will be obtained [l33.
e deformation will accelerate the /I formation rather than the /,. Accordingly. a high dislocation density and point defects are introduced into
tht material by this deformation. which provided heterogeneous :mcleation sites for ,Oand made the occurrence of precipitation
easier. with peak ageing
being reached earlier than for unreinforced
alloy
[10,13,14].

From the results of this wc;rk it can be concluded

that:
1 The matrix structure of the composite shows partial
or complete modification of eutectic silicon.
Z The materials reinforced with glass particulates have
a greater hardness and the time to achieve the peak is
much shorter than for the unreinforced material.
3 The ageing of the deformed super-saturated solid
solution is faster than for the undeformed material.

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[II

Conf:

Fig. 5. Hardness-time
deformation.

curves for artificial ageing at 170C after 15%

Mining

m7d Engineerii7g.

Sue-_ Ci7~7ol Cfrirersif.r.

Succ

iY8Y! p. 1.
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