Aluminum 4.5 wt. % Copper Alloy Powder Sintering Temperature Effect on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Spark Plasma Sintered Compact

Abstract

The aluminum 4.5 wt. % copper alloy was melted in an electrical resistance furnace and atomized to produce the powder of 350 µm to 500 µm size of different shapes and sizes. The atomized powder was graded using standard set of sieves. The powder is compacted with the help of spark plasma sintering by applying the required pressure and temperature simultaneously. The sintering pressure of 25 MPa and temperatures of 480 °C and 540 °C was employed to produce sintered compacts at two different temperatures. The density of the sintered compact was measured using Archimedes principle. The surface topography of both the compacts revealed the cellular, elongated grains and dendritic microstructure. The average micro Vickers hardness of compact sintered at 480 °C and 540 °C were found to be 55.9 HV1 and 65.4 HV1 respectively. The compression strength of compact sintered at 480 °C is 185 MPa and the compact sintered at 540 °C is reported as compacts was reported as 250 MPa.