The lowest temperature at which a 100-percent beta phase can exist is called the beta transus; this can

range from 700° C (1,300° F) to as high as 1,050° C (1,900° F), depending on alloy composition.

Summary
1. Paper 1 : THE EFFECT OF FORGING ON THE PROPERTIES OF PARTICULATE –SiC-
REINFORCED ALUMINIUM-ALLOY COMPOSITES : By Ismail, Umit and Kazim
History:
1) Aluminum is widely preferred as base metal in production of composite materials;
with their low density, wide range, favorable thermal properties, heat treatment
capability and processing flexibility.
Mechanical Properties of the MMC sample
Yield strength:
2) The yield strength in all the specimens in the as-cast and in the forged states
increases with the addition of up to about 17 vol% SiC p.
3) It decreases after the additions of SiCp above this amount.
4) With application of forging, the yield strength curves are pushed upwards, exhibiting
much heavier values than those of the as cast materials.
5) After one step forging in samples of 9 vol% SiC p the observed yield strength is lower
than the values obtained after two step forging.
6) For all other composites with over 9 vol % reinforcement , the behavior is
reversed ,the yield strength values obtained after one step forging are higher than
those obtained after two step forging .

Tensile Strength:

7) The curve for as-cast sample shows that tensile strength is unaltered with addition
up to 13 vol% reinforcement, but it is reduced with addition exceeding 13 vol%.
8) The samples containing above 17% reinforcement exhibit decreasing values of
tensile strength for as-cast samples
9) In forged composite specimens containing below 13% reinforcement, values of
tensile strength observed after two-step forging are lower than those of the as-cast
material, but with further additions of reinforcement the tensile strength increases.
10) The samples after one step forging possess the highest values of tensile strength.

Ductility:

11) With increasing reinforcement content, decreased values of ductility is observed in

all-cast and forged materials, but for the same reinforcement content the forged
samples possess much better quality.
12) The level of ductility is lowest in as-cast samples and below 5%.
13) Application of forging lifts up the ductility level of the composites considerably,
resulting in five times more in ductility level than the as-cast samples.
The lowest temperature at which a 100-percent beta phase can exist is called the beta transus; this can
range from 700° C (1,300° F) to as high as 1,050° C (1,900° F), depending on alloy composition.

14) Application of pressure during operations like squeeze casting, rolling ,forging,
extrusion ,improves ductility ;Because there is :
a) decrease in porosity content
b) improvement of particle –matrix bond
c) Refinement of matrix structure.

Micro-structures:

15) The microstructures of hot forged materials posses reduced number of the particles
of eutectic silicon and other phases, indicating that particle coarsening has occurred
to a certain extent (common in annealing and hot working).
16) It is noticeable that after forging some particles exhibit interfacial de-bonding and
cracking cracking, while almost no cracking damage can be seen in the as-cast
composites.
17) The as-cast samples possess higher level of porosity and when the SiC p content
exceeds 17 vol% the porosity values increases steeply.
18) According to Rozak , the porosity can be reduced by plastic working and it can be
eliminated if the amount of the applied deformation is over 90%.

Elastic Modulus:

19) The elastic modulus of the composites increases with the reinforcement content. Srivatsan
and Matingly stated that the elastic modulus of the composites with 30 vol% reinforcement
was 61 % higher than that of 2124 matrix alloy.(e.g.)
20) In general , the elastic modulus of the discontinuous reinforcement MMCs cannot be
predicted by the isostrain rule of mixtures
21) A different formulation for predicting the elastic modulus of the composites was proposed
by Halpin and Tsai and the following proposed equations are frequently employed for this
type of material:
Ec = Em (1+2sqVp) /(1- qVp) ---------------------(1)
q = ( Ep/Em -1) / (Ep/Ep/Em +2s) ----------------(2)

Where Ec , Em and Ep are the elastic constants of the composite ,matrix material and the
reinforcing particle respectively , s is the aspect ratio and V p is the volume fraction of
the reinforcement .
To employ this equation, Wang and Zhang; and Lagace and Lloyd used the
values of s=1 and ESiCp = 400 GPa . Em values are calculated experimentally. The
experimental and calculated values of the elastic modulus are taken as the function of
SiCp volume fraction.
The lowest temperature at which a 100-percent beta phase can exist is called the beta transus; this can
range from 700° C (1,300° F) to as high as 1,050° C (1,900° F), depending on alloy composition.

22) The dominating factors controlling the elastic modulus in these materials are:
a. Volume fraction of the reinforcement
b. The aspect ratio of the reinforcement and
c. The load-transfer capability of the interface.

But the presence of porosity and micro cracks would reduce the modulus.

Yield Strength:

23) The change in yield strength as a function of SiC p volume fraction for the forged and
as-cast specimens, indicates that in all of tested specimens the indicates that in all
of the tested specimens the yield strength increases with the reinforcement content
up to 17 vol % but starts decreasing in the specimens with over 17 vol % SiC p.
24) The application of forging increases the yield strength and an overall improvement
of about 80% in yield strength of the specimen of the matrix alloy and composites is
obtained. Harrigen demonstrated hot rolling reduction above 80% to billets of SiC p
reinforced 6061 alloys improved the SiC distribution and increased strength and
ductility of material.
25) Llyod reported that increasing the SiC p content increases the yield strength of the
composite, but some of the reported results do not agree with the above
observations.
26) Davidson found that yield strength of a composite with 15 vol% SiCp in Al 2014
matrix (345 MPa) was found to be lower than that of the base alloy (415 MPa). The
reason was that the matrix material found to be inhomogeneous, with unevenly
dispersed SiC p and relatively large inter-metallic particles widely distributed in the
matrix. Therefore the varying results in strength values can be attributed to
difference in processing and quality of material.
27) Addition of the particulate SiCp into aluminum alloy matrix increases the yield
strength which is in agreement with the previous observations, but this increase in
yield is limited to upto 17 vol% SiCp additions.
28) Zhong reported that in Al-Mg (5083)-alloy –based SiC p composites the addition of
the oxidized SiCp decreases the strength as a result of interfacial reaction where
MgO layers form at the particle–matrix interface due to Mg present in matrix.
Depletion of Mg in matrix will induce lower strength values as a consequence of
reduced solute strengthening. But depletion in strength ,although high SiC p
particulate, cannot be explained by depletion of Mg only, it can partly attributed to
formation of Mg oxides and Mg2Si at the interface reducing cohesion between the
reinforcing particles and the matrix.
The lowest temperature at which a 100-percent beta phase can exist is called the beta transus; this can
range from 700° C (1,300° F) to as high as 1,050° C (1,900° F), depending on alloy composition.

29) The porosity in the as-cast component increases with increasing reinforcement
volume fraction and the increase becomes abrupt after adding SiC p above 17 vol%.
30) Achieving strength in a composite is possible if a strong interfacial bond between
the matrix and reinforcement is achieved.
31) Hot Forging has two effects on the interface between matrix and reinforcement:
a. Positive effect: Applied deformation does not disturbs the SiC/matrix
bond, rather it may improve the bond by affecting the interfacial
compounds and by covering metal across the surface of the
reinforcement particles.
b. Negative effect: the forming process may cause local tearing and easy
formation of cracks at interface due to strain incompatibilities.

Depending upon the above effects, strength may either increase or decrease in a MMC.

Conclusion:

 Fair distribution of SiCp with clusters of smaller SiCp and presence of porosity in
as-Cast samples.
 With application of forging the clusters of SiC p disappears and porosity level is
reduced to very low levels.
 Elastic modulus is primarily controlled by: a) volume fraction of reinforcement,
b) porosity content. Elastic modulus increases with increase in volume fraction
of SiCp which can be predicted. Upto 17 vol% it increases and then it decreases
on further addition of reinforcement.
 Application of forging yield strength and tensile strength increases by 100 and
40%.
 The ductility of composites is decreased with increasing amount of SiC p. Forging
improves ductility and the elongation fracture increases above 10% in 17 vol%
SiCp.
The lowest temperature at which a 100-percent beta phase can exist is called the beta transus; this can
range from 700° C (1,300° F) to as high as 1,050° C (1,900° F), depending on alloy composition.