| Unidirectionally reinforced Al 2024 and Al 7075 composites with SiC whiskers were fabricated by high pressure infiltration technique and subsequent hot extrusion. The microstructure, age hardening behavior and mechanical properties of the composites were examined. Hot extrusion enabled the unidirectional alignment of whiskers, but substantial amount of whiskers was broken during extrusion. The whisker reinforcement tends to accelerate the age hardening, and decrease the amount of aging, due to the inhomogeneous precipitation of stable phases at the lattice defects in the matrix. The beneficial effect of whisker reinforcement was observed up to 473K. Above 573K, however, the mechanical properties of the composite were comparable to those of the unreinforced alloys, attributable to the enhanced grain boundary sliding due to the fine grain structure formed during hot extrusion. |
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