Structure Investigation of Ball Milled Composite Powder Based on AlSi5Cu2 Alloy Chips Modified by Sic Particles

The paper is focused on the processing of aluminum alloy chips using powder metallurgy. Chips obtained from recycled AlSi5Cu2 alloy were ball milled with the addition of silicon carbide powder with an average size of 2μm. Mechanical alloying process was employed to obtain homogeneous composite powder. The effect of processing time (0 - 40h) on the homogeneity of the system was evaluated, as well as a detailed study of the microstructure of AlSi5Cu2 aluminum chips and SiC particles during MA was carried out. Addition of silicon carbide (10, 20wt%) to recycled aluminium chips and application of MA lead to fragmentation of the homogeneous composite powder down to particle size of about 3μm and spheroidization. The addition of hard SiC particles caused reinforcement and reduced the milling time. Higher content of silicon carbide and longer processing time allowed to obtain AlSi5Cu2/SiC powders with microhardness ∽500HV0,025. The results of MA were investigated with SEM, EDS, LOM, XRD and showed that relatively homogeneous distribution of SiC reinforcements in the matrix as well as grain refinement of aluminum solid solution down to 50nm can be obtained after 40h of processing.