In-situ synthesized polymer-derived SiC reinforced aluminum matrix composites

In the current work, in-situ formed polymer-derived SiC reinforced aluminum-based metal matrix composites were synthesized to uniformly distribute ceramic particles in metal matrix with good matrix-reinforcement interface. Polymeric precursor (allyl hydrido polycarbosilane) was cross-linked at 300 °C and the cross-linked precursor was mixed with molten aluminum at 800 °C under nitrogen using stir casting route to obtained composites reinforced with 2 wt%, 4 wt% and 7 wt% of SiC (particle size < 10 µm) distributed uniformly in the synthesized composites. Structural characterization of samples were performed using FTIR, XRD, optical microscopy, FESEM and Raman spectroscopy. The composites demonstrated significant improvements in hardness (∼58%), ultimate tensile strength (∼45%) and compressive strength (∼58%) for 7 wt% in-situ formed SiC in aluminum matrix compared to pure aluminum.