Microstructural and electrochemical behaviour of aluminium alloy composites produced using different sintering techniques

Abstract

Present research work analyses the effect of heating modes on the densification, microstructure and mechanical properties of aluminum alloys [65Al-20Cu-15Mn] fabricated through powder metallurgy route. Sintering of compacts using conventional, microwave and spark plasma sintering methods has been carried out at 525°C. From the results, it has been observed that the spark plasma sintering method produced the samples with better mechanical properties than the other two methods, followed by microwave and conventionally sintered counterparts. Microstructural analysis using optical microscopy revealed that spark plasma sintered sample has finest microstructure due to faster rate of heating than microwave and conventional methods.