Journal of Materials Processing Technology 161 (2005) 381387

Production and mechanical properties of Al2O3 particle-reinforced

2024 aluminium alloy composites
M. Kok
Department of Mechanical Program, Vocational College Education, Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University,
46100 Kahramanmaras, Turkey
Received 25 August 2003; received in revised form 16 July 2004; accepted 20 July 2004

Abstract
2024 aluminium alloy metal matrix composites (MMCs) reinforced with three different sizes and weight fractions of Al2 O3 particles up to
30 wt.% were fabricated by a vortex method and subsequent applied pressure. The effects of Al2 O3 particle content and size of particle on the
mechanical properties of the composites such as hardness and tensile strength were investigated. The density measurements showed that the
samples contained little porosity, and the amount of porosity in the composites increased with increasing weight fraction and decreasing size
of particles. Scanning electron microscopic observations of the microstructures revealed that the dispersion of the coarser sizes of particles
was more uniform while finer particles led to agglomeration of the particles and porosity. The results show that the hardness and the tensile
strength of the composites increased with decreasing size and increasing weight fraction of particles.
2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Metal matrix composites; Al2 O3 particle; Particle-reinforced composite; Aluminium alloy; Vortex

1. Introduction
Metal matrix composites (MMCs) represent a new generation of engineering materials in which a strong ceramic
reinforcement is incorporated into a metal matrix to improve
its properties including specific strength, specific stiffness,
wear resistance, excellent corrosion resistance and high elastic modulus [1,2]. MMCs combine metallic properties of matrix alloys (ductility and toughness) with ceramic properties
of reinforcements (high strength and high modulus), leading to greater strength in shear and compression and higher
service-temperature capabilities [3,4]. Thus, they have significant scientific, technological and commercial importance.
During the last decade, because of their improved properties,
MMCs are being used extensively for high performance applications such as in aircraft engines and more recently in the
automotive industry [2,4]. Al2 O3 and SiC fibres and particles are the most commonly used reinforcements in MMCs

Tel.: + 90 344 2512315/325; fax: +90 344 2512312.

E-mail address: metinkok@ksu.edu.tr.

0924-0136/$ see front matter 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2004.07.068

and the addition of these reinforcements to aluminium alloys

has been the subject of a considerable amount of research
work [1,5]. The application of Al2 O3 or SiC reinforced aluminium alloy matrix composites in the automotive and aircraft industries is gradually increasing for pistons, cylinder
heads, etc., where the tribological properties of the material are very important [612]. Therefore, the development
of aluminium matrix composites is receiving considerable
emphasis in meeting the requirements of various industries.
Incorporation of hard second phase particles in the alloy matrix to produce MMCs has also been reported to be more
beneficial and economical [1315].
Ceramic particle-reinforced MMCs have always presented machining problems. Therefore, much research is devoted to eliminating this step by perfecting near-net-shape
production techniques. Due to the increased use and importance of MMCs, their fabrication techniques have been subjected to continuous development during the last few years.
A variety of methods for producing MMCs have recently
become available. The particle-reinforced aluminium alloy
composites which are among the most widely used com-

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M. Kok / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 161 (2005) 381387

posites materials, can be produced by various fabrication

processes including melt processing (liquid-phase processing) and powder metallurgy (solid-phase processing) [3,16].
Compared with powder metallurgy, melt processing which
involves the stirring of ceramic particles into melts, has some
important advantages, e.g., better matrix-particle bonding,
easier control of matrix structure, simplicity, low cost of processing and nearer net shape [1,3,16,17]. Moreover, the wide
selection of materials for this fabrication method is also an
advantage [17]. However, the melting process has two major
problems which are firstly, the ceramic particles are generally
not wetted by the liquid metal matrix, and secondly, the particles tend to sink or float depending on their density relative to
the liquid metal and so that the dispersion of the ceramic particles are not uniform, whereas powder metallurgy makes the
uniform dispersion of the reinforcements less of a problem
[1821]. In this study, these problems have been overcome
by melt stirring at high mixing speed (900 rev min1 ) and by
preheating of the ceramic particles to improve the wettability
before incorporation into the metal matrix alloy. In terms of
both processing and properties, the main concern that must
be investigated is that of obtaining uniform dispersion of the
ceramic particles in MMCs [22].
It is still costly and difficult to manufacture the metal matrix composites because of the poor wetting between matrix
alloys and some reinforcements [2326]. However, among
the various fabrication methods of the particle-reinforced
MMCs, the molten metal stirring method (vortex method)
is very promising for manufacturing near-net-shape components at a relatively low cost. A vortex method includes these
steps which are incorporation of ceramic particles into the
vortex formed by stirring of the molten metal, stirring of the
mixture after the completion of the particle feeding in order to
supply uniform dispersion of the particles and casting of the
molten mixture. In this method, the manufacturing parameters in homogenous mixing are the crucible size, the ability
and the size of the impeller, the temperature of the molten
metal, the stirring time, the stirring speed, the particle feeding
into the mixture at a continuous and uniform rate, and the temperature of the mold [3,27]. The purpose of the present work,
therefore, was to: (a) produce the Al2 O3 particle-reinforced
metal matrix composites by a vortex method; (b) examine
the wettability problem during the incorporation of Al2 O3
particles into the aluminium alloys; (c) investigate the effect of Al2 O3 particle content and size on the porosity and
the mechanical properties of Al2 O3 particle-reinforced 2024
aluminium alloy composites.

2. Experimental
2.1. Materials and equipment
In this study, 2024 aluminium alloy with the theoretical
density of 2800 kg/m3 was used as the matrix material while
-Al2 O3 (alumina) particles with various particle sizes of 16,

Table 1
Chemical composition of Al2 O3 particles
-Alumina (wt.%)
Fe2 O3 (wt.%)
TiO2 (wt.%)
CaO (wt.%)
Other magnetic materials (wt.%)

93
0.8
1.8
1.1
0.2

32 and 66 m, and a density of 3950 kg/m3 were used as the

reinforcements. The Al2 O3 particles supplied by Treibacher,
are short particles with a white colour. The grain sizes
of Al2 O3 particles were determined using a Malvern laser
size analyser. The chemical analysis of the Al2 O3 particles
and the 2024 Al alloy used in this study are presented in
Tables 1 and 2, respectively. For manufacturing of the MMCs,
10, 20 and 30 wt.% Al2 O3 particles were used. The Al2 O3
particle-reinforced 2024 Al alloy metal matrix composites
have been produced by using a vortex method and a subsequently applied pressure [16,27]. The composites were
shaped in the form of cylinder of 40 mm outer diameter and
height of 160 mm, using a 2 kW power resistance-heated furnace designed especially for this investigation under protective argon gases.
The melting process is carried out in a graphite crucible
with upper diameter of 102 mm and lower diameter of 70 mm
while the mixing process is conducted with a 55 mm diameter
graphite mixer having four channels, which combines with a
steel mandrel driven by a variable speed AC motor. The steel
mandrel was enclosed in a graphite sleeve to prevent contact
with the molten aluminium alloy. The outside of this production unit was insulated with glass fibres as shown in Fig. 1. In
this unit, argon gas is divided into two channels; one is sent
over the crucible in order to prevent molten metal interacting
with the atmosphere while the other is fixed on the reinforcement unit to control the flow rate of the reinforcements. The
temperature control of the electric furnace and molten metal
is carried out by an NR911 type thermostat. This thermostat
has a special control unit and thermocouples. Thermocouples
were inserted into the melt and the furnace to measure their
temperature [16,27].
2.2. Procedure
Initially, 2024 Al alloy was charged into the crucible, and
heated to about 700 C, which is above the liquidus temperature of the Al alloy. After the entire alloy in the crucible was melted, the pre-heated impeller was attached to the
Table 2
Chemical composition of 2024 Al alloy matrix
Cu (wt.%)
Mg (wt.%)
Si (wt.%)
Mn (wt.%)
Zn (wt.%)
Other (wt.%)
Aluminium

3.23
0.81
0.74
0.54
0.13
0.050.20
Balance

M. Kok / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 161 (2005) 381387

383

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus for producing the MMCs.

motor shaft, turned on and set to the pre-determined speed.

Then, the mixer was lowered into the melt slowly to stir the
molten metal, while the Al2 O3 particles, which were heated at
400 C for 10 min and air-cooled to room temperature (about
25 C) before incorporation, were added into the uniformly
formed vortex using a funnel-shaped pipe with flowing argon. The clearence of the impeller from the bottom of the
crucible was approximately 10 mm with the melt depth being about 90 mm. Argon gas was also blown into the crucible
during the operation. After the completion of particle feeding, the mixing was continued for a further 5 min. Then, the
mixer was turned off, and the molten mixture was poured in
the pre-heated mold by tipping the furnace. The mold was
taken to a hydraulic press and subsequently 6 MPa pressure
was applied to the mixture in order to reduce the porosity in
the composites and improve the bonding force between the
Al alloy/Al2 O3 particles. The time of applied pressure was
about 30 s. Finally, the mold was opened after 5 min and the
fabricated billets were air-cooled to room temperature. Unreinforced matrix alloy bars were also produced by the same
method.

rule according to the weight fraction of the Al2 O3 particles.

The porosities of the produced composites were evaluated
from the difference between the expected and the observed
density of each sample.
2.4. Hardness and tensile strength tests
The hardnesses of the composites and matrix alloy were
measured after polishing to a 1 m finish. The Brinell hardness values of the samples were measured using a ball large
enough (2.5 mm diameter at a load of 187.5 kg) to obtain an
indentation which would be representative of the macrostructure of the material. In order to eliminate possible segregation
effects, the mean of at least five tests was taken for each specimen.
Tensile tests were used to assess the mechanical behaviour
of the composites and matrix alloy. The composite and matrix alloy rods were machined to tensile specimens with a
diameter of 6 mm and gauge length of 30 mm. The surface
of the samples was polished on 600 grit sand paper. The tensile strength was tested on a Hounsfield testing machine at a
cross-head speed of 0.5 mm s1 .

2.3. Density measurement and porosity

2.5. Microstructures
The experimental density of the composites was obtained
by the Archimedian method of weighing small pieces cut
from the composite cylinder first in air and then in water,
while the theoretical density was calculated using the mixture

The composite billets fabricated in the preliminary experiments were first sectioned to enable an estimation of the
uniformity of dispersion. After that, sectioned samples were

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M. Kok / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 161 (2005) 381387

polished with 120, 400 and 600 grit sandpapers, respectively.

Finally, the polishing was finished on cloth using diamond
paste of 6 and 1 m. Unreinforced 2024 Al matrix alloy was
also polished in the same way. Microscopic examinations
of the composites and matrix alloy were carried out using a
scanning electron microscope (SEM).

3. Results and discussion

3.1. Production of composites
In the present work, 2024 Al alloy MMCs reinforced with
varying size (16, 32 and 66 m), and weight fraction (10,
20 and 30 wt.%), -Al2 O3 particles have been successfully
produced using a vortex method and subsequently applied
pressure. As a result of various trials, in the production stage
of investigation, the optimum process parameters were found
to be as followspouring temperature: 700 C, pre-heated
mold temperature: 550 C, stirring speed: 900 rev min1 , stirring time: 5 min after the completion of particle feeding, particle addition rate: 5 g min1 and applied pressure: 6 MPa.
Approximately, the same values of process parameters have
been found in some previous studies [1,3,2830]. At higher
pouring temperature, Al2 O3 particles tended to sink, whereas
at lower pouring temperature and stirring speed, and higher
particle addition rate, the particles were not incorporated into
the molten metal and particle agglomeration occurred at the
surface of the molten metal. In addition, at higher stirring
speed some of the particles were dispersed out of the crucible by the wind of the impeller and so particle addition was
not achieved. When the mold temperature was decreased, the
composite mixture solidified immediately it was poured into
the mold and the necessary pressure could not be applied.
Thus, the amount of porosity in the composite increased.
Also, at higher mold temperature, Al2 O3 particles sunk to
the bottom of the mold because of the low solidification rate
and uniform dispersion of the particles was not achieved. As
a result, the uniform distribution of Al2 O3 particles was only
achieved under the optimum process conditions given above.
3.2. Density and porosity
The graphs of theoretical and experimental densities and
porosities of the composites according to the weight fractions
of Al2 O3 particles are shown in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively.
Fig. 2 shows that the theoretical density values of the composites increase linearly (as expected from the rule of mixtures).
Although a linear increase was seen in the experimental densities, the values are lower than that of the theoretical densities. The density measurements showed that the composites
contained some porosity, and as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the
amount of porosity and density in the composites increased
with increasing weight fraction and decreasing size of the
particles. These results have been observed in previous investigations [1,27,31]. During the production process of the

Fig. 2. The variation of theoretical and experimental density with Al2 O3

particle content and size.

Fig. 3. The variation of porosity with Al2 O3 particle content and size.

MMCs, some porosity is normal, because of the long particle

feeding duration and the increase in surface area in contact
with air caused by decreasing the particle size [27,31]. However, in this study, the pressure immediately applied after the
casting, has reduced this porosity in the composites, and improved the bonding force between the Al alloy and Al2 O3
particles and the wettability of the particles.
3.3. Microstructures
SEM micrographs of the 30 wt.% Al2 O3 particlereinforced composites with 66, 32 and 16 m particle size,
fabricated under the optimum production conditions, are
shown in Fig. 4. The most important factor in the fabrication of MMCs is the uniform dispersion of the reinforcements. As shown in Fig. 4, uniform dispersion of the particles was achieved in the composites reinforced with 66 m
particles, whereas the distribution of 16 and 32 m particles
was not uniform and some of these particles agglomerated.
Figs. 5 and 6 present the SEM micrographs of the 10 wt.%
Al2 O3 particle-reinforced composites with 32 and 16 m particle sizes in which the particle clustering and agglomeration
are clearly shown. Also, Fig. 7 shows the SEM micrograph of
the 30 wt.% Al2 O3 particle-reinforced composite with 16 m
particle size where the porosity is clearly indicated by the dark
black regions.

M. Kok / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 161 (2005) 381387

385

Fig. 5. SEM micrograph of 10 wt.% Al2 O3 particle-reinforced composite

with 32 m particle size, which shows particle segregation, black regions
are Al2 O3 particles.

Fig. 6. SEM micrograph of 10 wt.% Al2 O3 particle-reinforced composite

with 16 m particle size, which shows particle agglomeration, black regions
are Al2 O3 particles.

Fig. 4. SEM micrographs of composites reinforced with 30 wt.% Al2 O3

particles, black regions are Al2 O3 particles: (a) 66, (b) 32, (c) 16 m.

As a result, SEM observations of the microstructures revealed that the dispersion of the coarser sizes was more uniform while the finer particles led to agglomeration and segregation of the particles, and porosity. The reason for the
particle segregation is proposed as follows: the Al dendrites
solidify first during solidification of the composite, and the
particles are rejected by the solidliquid interface, and hence,

Fig. 7. SEM micrograph of 10 wt.% Al2 O3 particle-reinforced composite

with 32 m particle size, which shows porosity, black regions are porosity.

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M. Kok / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 161 (2005) 381387

has increased the tensile strength and hardness of the Al alloy

[27,33].

4. Conclusions
The optimum process conditions for production of Al2 O3
particle-reinforced aluminium alloy composites by the vortex
method and subsequently applied pressure were found in the
present work. SEM microstructures, density and porosity, and
the tensile strength and hardness of MMCs were investigated.
The following conclusions have been drawn:
Fig. 8. The variation of hardness with Al2 O3 particle content and size.

are segregated to the inter-dendritic region. This event occurred more easily with the finer particles [32].
3.4. Hardness and tensile strength
Hardness tests were performed on a Brinell Hardness machine and the results of the tests are shown in Fig. 8. As
shown, hardness increases with the amount of Al2 O3 particles present and decreasing particle size.
The results of the tensile strength tests are given in Fig. 9,
which shows the variation of tensile strength with the weight
fraction and the size of Al2 O3 particles. As shown here, the
tensile strength of the MMCs increased with decreasing size
and increasing amount of particles like the hardness. However, there is a discrepancy in the tensile strength of the composite reinforced with 10 wt.% of 32 m Al2 O3 particles.
The tensile strength of this composite is a little bit greater
than that of the composite reinforced with 10 wt.% of 16 m
Al2 O3 particles. The elongation measured for the composites
lies with a very low range, below 3%, depending on the Al2 O3
particle size and content. The higher the particle content and
the lower the particle size, the lower the elongation.
Among all of the MMCs, the composites reinforced with
16 m Al2 O3 particles have the maximum hardness and tensile strength, and the minimum elongation. Compared with
the 2024 Al matrix alloy, the tensile strength and hardness
of the MMCs are greater, and the addition of Al2 O3 particles

Fig. 9. The variation of tensile strength with Al2 O3 particle content and size.

1. 2024 Al alloy MMCs reinforced with different sizes and

weight percentages of -Al2 O3 particles (up to 30 wt.%)
have been successfully fabricated by the vortex method
and subsequently applied pressure. The optimum conditions of the production process were that the pouring
temperature was 700 C, preheated mold temperature was
550 C, the stirring speed was 900 rev min1 , the stirring
time after the completion of particle feeding was 5 min,
the particle addition rate was 5 g min1 and the applied
pressure was 6 MPa.
2. SEM observations of the microstructures showed that the
coarser particles were dispersed more uniformly, while
the finer particles led to agglomeration and segregation of
particles, and porosity.
3. The density of the composites increased with increasing
weight percentage and size of particles, whereas the porosity of the composites increased with decreasing size and
increasing weight percentage of particles.
4. The wettability and the bonding force between Al
alloy/Al2 O3 particles were improved by the applied pressure after the casting and the porosity was also decreased
because of this pressure.
5. The tensile strength and hardness of MMCs increased but
the elongation of them decreased, with decreasing size
and increasing weight percentage of the particles.

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M. Kok is an assistant professor at the Department of Mechanical Program, Vocational Education College of Kahramanmaras Sutcu Imam University, Kahramanmaras, Turkey. He received the MSc and PhD degrees
from Firat University, Elazg, Turkey, in 1996 and 2000, respectively. He
worked on production and machinability of composites.