Making ultra-high strengthening and toughening efficiency in hybrid reinforcing of aluminum laminated composites via dispersion engineering

To overcome the strength-ductility trade-off dilemma, herein we propose a hybrid in-situ/ex-situ reinforced aluminum matrix composite to achieve a uniform dispersion of reinforcements and strong reinforcement-matrix interfacial bonding. To exploit the pros of inter/intra granular dispersion of reinforcements, nano- Al3BC particles have been in-situ synthesized into ultrafine-grained (UFG) Al grain interior reinforced by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) via an elemental powder mixture, mechanical activation and subsequent annealing process. The in-situ nano-scaled Al3BC were uniformly distributed inside the elongated ultrafine Al grains, enabling stronger dislocation pinning and retention, providing stronger effective stress which consequently helps to enhance strength and strain hardening. The as-fabricated (Al3BC, CNT)/UFG Al exhibits simultaneous enhancement in strength (394 MPa) and total elongation (19.7 %) compared with its counterpart without the nano-Al3BC, suggesting the promising strengthening effects of in-situ/ex-situ reinforcing benefitting from the uniform dispersion and the strong semi-coherent interface with the matrix.