Hot Extrusion of Al/SiC Powder through Porthole Die

摘要

Nowadays metal matrix composites (MMC) with ceramic additives constitute an essential modern engineering material used in production of various components. In this work, the results of extruding pure aluminum powder reinforced with two, four, eight, and 16 percent of SiC through a porthole die are presented. The influence of the compaction mode on extrusion parameters and the properties of extruded parts were studied. The samples for extrusion were prepared according to two procedures: one set was subjected to compaction at room temperature up to 90 percent of the theoretical density; whereas, the other set were compacted at 380°C up to 96 percent. The samples were next extruded at 500°C through a porthole die with varying extrusion ratios and extrusion speeds. The influence of the chemical composition and reduction ratio during extrusion on the density, microstructure, and mechanical properties of extrudates were investigated. The quality of the weld seams was also examined. The extrusion force for the samples compacted at room temperature was lower compared to that for samples compacted at 380°C. It was found that the increasing SiC content increases mechanical properties of extrudates obtained by hot extrusion through a porthole die.