Synthesis and characterisation of nanostructured Al–Al 3 V and Al–(Al 3 V–Al 2 O 3 ) composites by powder metallurgy

In this study, the formation and characterisation of Aluminium (Al)-based composites by mechanical alloying and hot extrusion were investigated. Initially, the vanadium trialuminide (Al 3 V) particles with nanosized structure were successfully produced by mechanical alloying and heat treatment. Al 3 V–Al 2 O 3 reinforcement was synthesised by mechanochemical reduction during milling of V 2 O 5 and Al powder mixture. In order to produce composite powders, reinforcement powders were added to pure Al powders and milled for 5 h. The composite powders were consolidated in an extrusion process. The results showed that nanostructured Al-10 wt-% Al 3 V and Al-10 wt-% (Al 3 V–Al 2 O 3 ) composites have tensile strengths of 209 and 226 MPa, respectively, at room temperature. In addition, mechanical properties did not drop drastically at temperatures of up to 300°C.