Effects of Particle Size and Volume Fraction on Extrusion Texture of SiCp/Al Metal Matrix Composites

Abstract

The texture development was investigated in the extruded Al and Al metal matrix composites (MMCs) reinforced with SiC particles of different sizes and volume fractions. During extrusion, both the unreinforced Al and the MMCs develop a strong fiber texture with two components: <111> and <100>. When SiC is introduced into aluminum, the main component of texture is not modified, but the intensity of the component evolves with the volume fraction and average size of SiC particles. For the MMCs reinforced with 3.5μm SiC particles, the texture intensity of the Al matrix tends to decrease as the SiC volume fraction increases, and it is lower than that in the unreinforced Al. However, for the MMCs reinforced with 25 nm and 150 nm SiC particles, the texture intensity of the Al matrix is higher than that in the unreinforced matrix, and it increases with increasing the SiC volume fraction. It is found that superfine particles may introduce some new component into the deformation texture, and the texture intensity increases as the SiC particle size decreases.