Microstructural examination and properties of premixed Al-Cu-Mg powder metallurgy alloy

Abstract

This paper reports the experimental findings on the development of the premixed elemental Al5Cu and Al5Cu0.5Mg powder metallurgy alloys. Aluminum powder was mixed with copper and magnesium powders in a macro- and a micro-level in order to produce light and strong Al-based powder metallurgy alloys using standard powder metallurgy processes. Differential thermal analysis of the powder mixtures was useful in determining effective sintering regimes. The effects of processing parameters for sintering over microstructure and product properties were highlighted. High strength Al-based powder metallurgy alloys were developed with good microstructure from the premixed elemental Al5Cu and Al5Cu0.5Mg compositions. It was shown that, using powder metallurgy production route with a micro-alloying technique, the transverse rupture strength value after sintering of the base Al powder could be increased 5 times from 84 MPa to 466 MPa. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.