J. Mater. Sci. Technol.

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Thermal Expansion of Al Matrix Composites Reinforced with Hybrid Micro-/nano-sized Al2O3 Particles

Zhibo Lei1), Ke Zhao1), Yiguang Wang1), Linan An2)   

  1. 1) School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
    2) Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
  • Received:2012-09-21 Revised:2012-11-22 Online:2014-01-15 Published:2014-01-08
  • Contact: Y. Wang,L. An
  • Supported by:

    This work was partially supported by 111 program, China (No. B08040).

Abstract:

The thermal expansion behavior of aluminum matrix composites reinforced with hybrid (nanometer and micrometer) Al2O3 particles was measured between 100 and 600 °C and compared to theoretical models. The results revealed that the nanoparticle concentration had significant effect on the thermal expansion behavior of the composites. For the composites with lower nanoparticle concentration, their coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) is determined by a stress relaxation process. While for the composites with higher nanoparticle concentration, their CTE is determined by a percolation process.

Key words: Metal-matrix composites (MMCs), Thermal properties, Hybrid particles