Manufacturing of AA2124 Aluminum Alloy Metal Matrix Composites Reinforced by Silicon Carbide Processed by Powder Metallurgy Techniques of High Energy Ball Milling and Hot Extrusion

Aluminum alloy metal matrix composites are a class of materials object of large and intensive research during the last years. In this study an AA2124 aluminum alloy were processed by means of mechanical alloying added by 10, 20 and 20 percent of silicon carbide (SiC) in vibratory SPEX type mill during 60 and 120 minutes. After this the composites powders obtained were characterized by means of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) plus Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) to determine the powders morphology. In order to consolidate the AA2124 aluminum alloy composites reinforced by silicon carbide (SiC) composites, the powders processed by high energy ball milling technique were hot extruded and the billets were characterized by SEM to determine the microstructure and the distribution of the reinforced ceramic phase of silicon carbide throughout the aluminum matrix and at last the microhardiness Vickers technique were used to evaluate the mechanical properties.