ALFA COMPOSITES FABRICATED BY MECHANICAL ALLOYING - ANALYSIS OF THE REINFORCING PHASE DISTRIBUTION BY COMPUTED MICROTOMOGRAPHY

The paper presents the results of examinations of composite samples in which the reinforcement is waste fly ash from power plants, while matrix is an aluminium (A8). The agglomerates of master composite obtained by mechanical alloying were subjected to hot plastic consolidation to transform the powder into a solid material, and thus formed compacts were heated to a temperature of 430-450°C and squeezed into 14 mm diameter rods. Thus obtained cylindrical samples were analysed by computed tomography, which revealed a satisfactory level of the distribution of the reinforcing phase at a 25 wt.% fly ash concentration, and absence of the areas characterised by too high concentration of ceramic particles, which may act as a source of the adverse phenomenon of agglomeration. An improvement in the mechanical properties of composite samples compared made from the sole matrix material.

Download 900.0 KB >>