Abstract
The effect of δ alumina fibre arrays on the age-hardening characteristics of an Al-Mg-Si alloy (6061) has been investigated by means of hardness and electrical resistivity measurements, and optical, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. It is shown that the fibre array can have a considerable effect on the age-hardening response of the matrix alloy in metal matrix composites, causing suppression of GP zone formation which inhibits natural ageing and considerably reduces the peak hardening produced during artificial ageing. The reduced hardening potential of the composites during artificial ageing is shown to result from a competition between GP zone formation and heterogeneous nucleation of the β′ intermediate precipitate on lattice defects. The most probable cause of both phenomena is shown to be lack of quenched-in vacancies following solution treatment, due to the availability of a large number of vacancy sinks at the fibre-matrix interfaces.
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Friend, C.M., Luxton, S.D. The effect of δ alumina fibre arrays on the age-hardening characteristics of an Al-Mg-Si alloy. J Mater Sci 23, 3173–3180 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00551291
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00551291