Microwave sintered aluminium composite with metallic glass reinforcement

Incorporation of light metal matrices with amorphous alloy/metallic glass particles as reinforcements is an emerging research topic. In the present work, pure Al has been reinforced with amorphous Ni60Nb40 particles. The microwave-assisted two-directional rapid sintering technique has been used to produce these novel composites. By using microwave sintering, Al-materials can be sintered at high temperatures in a relatively shorter period of time. The sintered composites are then hot extruded, and studied for their mechanical and wear properties. The property evaluation of the extruded composite reveal that when compared to pure Al, microhardness, tensile, compressive and wear properties improve significantly. The results of the present work highlight: (i) the effectiveness of amorphous particles as promising reinforcement material, by which the advantage of the light-metal matrix and also those of the amorphous alloy/glassy particles has been utilized and, (ii) microwave sintering as a successful method to produce these composites, wherein in retention of the amorphous structure of reinforcement has been achieved due to effective sintering.