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Niobium Carbide-Reinforced Al Matrix Composites Produced by High-Energy Ball Milling

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Abstract

Aluminum and its alloys are key materials for the transportation industry as they contribute to the development of lightweight structures. The dispersion of hard ceramic particles in the Al soft matrix can lead to a substantial strengthening effect, resulting in composite materials exhibiting interesting mechanical properties and inspiring their technological use in sectors like the automotive and aerospace industries. Powder metallurgy techniques are attractive to design metal matrix composites, achieving a homogeneous distribution of the reinforcement into the metal matrix. In this work, pure aluminum has been reinforced with particles of niobium carbide (NbC), an extremely hard and stable refractory ceramic. Its use as a reinforcing phase in metal matrix composites has not been deeply explored. Composite powders produced after different milling times, with 10 and 20 vol pct of NbC were produced by high-energy ball milling and characterized by scanning electron microscopy and by X-ray diffraction to establish a relationship between the milling time and size, morphology, and distribution of the particles in the composite powder. Subsequently, an Al/10 pct NbC composite powder was hot extruded into cylindrical bars. The strength of the obtained composite bars is comparable to the commercial high-strength, aeronautical-grade aluminum alloys.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Alcoa for supplying the Al powder and to Treibacher Industry AG for supplying the NbC, both of which are used in this work. The authors are also grateful to the Science and Technology Institute of the Federal University of São Paulo (ICT-UNIFESP) for making the development of this work feasible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Talim 330, Vila Nair., São José dos Campos, SP, 12231-280, Brazil

    Dilermando Nagle Travessa, Marina Judice Silva & Kátia Regina Cardoso

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  1. Dilermando Nagle Travessa
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  2. Marina Judice Silva
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  3. Kátia Regina Cardoso
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Correspondence to Dilermando Nagle Travessa.

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Manuscript submitted September 21, 2016.

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Travessa, D.N., Silva, M.J. & Cardoso, K.R. Niobium Carbide-Reinforced Al Matrix Composites Produced by High-Energy Ball Milling. Metall Mater Trans B 48, 1754–1762 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-017-0959-z

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