A comparative study of mechanical properties and wear behaviour of Al-4Cu-TiB<inf>2</inf> and Al-4Cu-TiC in-situ composites

Al-4Cu based composites reinforced by in-situ TiB2 and TiC particles were fabricated by the reaction of molten Al with halide salts and graphite. The processing conditions were controlled to get only TiB2 and TiC particles by suppressing the formation of brittle Al3Ti phase in these composites. The composites show significant improvement in strength without any significant loss of ductility. The mechanical properties are better than the conventional Al-SiC and Al-Al2O3 composites. The wear results indicate that the addition of reinforcement decreases the wear rate significantly and an increase in the amount of the reinforcement increases the wear resistance of the composites.