Spark plasma sintering of boron carbide reinforced aluminum alloy (Al6061) matrix composites

Lightweight aluminum matrix composites find wide applications in automobile and aerospace applications. An effort in the field of metal matrix composites is done by preparing boron carbide reinforced composites via spark plasma sintering. Three different loadings of 1wt.%, 5wt.% and 10wt.% were used to fabricate aluminum alloy composites for physical and mechanical characterization. The resulting microstructure is evaluated by optical, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Density and electrical conductivity measurements are used to witness the effect of boron carbide in alloy matrix. Mechanical properties were evaluated by measuring hardness and compressive strength. Improvement in properties was observed owing to uniform distribution, superior compaction and sintering during optimized spark plasma processing. The strengthening mechanism has been studied and behavior of ceramic reinforcement has been discussed. Higher content of boron carbide is main reason of dislocation peening and resulting higher strength of the composite.