Mechanical and tribological properties of carbon fibers and SiC particles hybrid reinforced aluminum matrix composites fabricated by powder metallurgy

In this study, hybrid aluminum (Al) matrix composites reinforced with copper-coated carbon fibers and SiC particles (SiC p -Cu@CF/Al composites) were manufactured by the powder metallurgy method. With the carbon fiber mass fraction fixed at 1 wt%, the effect of SiC particle mass fraction on the microstructure and properties of the composite was systematically investigated. The results indicated that with the addition of 3 wt% SiC particles, the SiC p -Cu@CF/Al composite exhibited a hardness of 73.47 HB and a tensile strength of 344.38 MPa, which were 30.6% and 22.1% higher than those of the copper-coated carbon fiber reinforced aluminum matrix (Cu@CF/Al) composite, respectively. Meanwhile, the composite demonstrated an average friction coefficient of 0.4526 and a wear rate of 0.93 × 10 -2 mm 3 /N·m, representing reductions of 42.7% and 66.6%, respectively. Carbon fibers enhanced the tensile strength primarily through axial load-bearing, while SiC particles improved the hardness and wear resistance via dispersion strengthening and grain refinement. The synergistic effect of these two reinforcements, aided by a graded stress distribution at the interface that inhibited crack propagation, led to a complementary improvement in the overall mechanical and tribological properties. This work provides a systematic understanding of the synergistic strengthening and wear-resistance mechanisms of SiC p -Cu@CF/Al composites fabricated by powder metallurgy, and identifies an optimized SiC particle content for achieving balanced mechanical and tribological performance.