Review of mechanical and microstructural properties of aluminum matrix composites reinforced with ceramic particles produced by SPD processes

Metal matrix composites are bunch of materials that have wide range of uses such as construction, abrasion, and heat. This type of composite exhibits better dimension than the base metal such as temperature applications, strength, rigidity, thermal conductivity, wear resistance, creep resistance and stability. In this study, the methods of producing aluminum composite reinforced with ceramic particles, especially the processes of sever plastic deformation, have been investigated. The main focus of this research is to study the microstructure, mechanical properties and mechanisms governing this type of composite produced by two ARB and cross CARB methods. The results of the research showed that in the initial passes of the processed composites there is no proper distribution of reinforcing particles but by increasing the number of passes, the particle distribution is improved and the reinforcing particles are distributed in longitudinal and transverse directions. Tensile strength and microhardness have the same trend which they gradually increased with increasing strain rates and improvement of particle distribution but elongation at first decreased in the initial passes due to the inappropriate distribution of the particles, porosity and cluster particles, and then improved with the elimination of these imperfections and distribution. However, the mechanical and microstructural properties of the CARB method are more favorable. Also, the governing mechanisms for microstructure modification in produced composites by rolling processes are the formation of the Orowan loop, role of reinforcing particles, difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion of the matrix and reinforcement, and so on.