Preparation of stainless steel mesh reinforced aluminum sheets by powder rolling and spark sintering methods

摘要

Aluminum matrix composite sheets, two-dimensionally reinforced with stainless steel mesh, were prepared by powder rolling and spark sintering. Tensile tests of the sintered samples were carried out to investigate the optimization of the preparing condition. Bonding of powder particles was promoted by sintering at higher temperature and for longer holding time. On the other hand, the intermetallic compound Al_x (Fe, Ni, Cr) layer was produced at the interface between the stainless steel wire and aluminum matrix in the sintering process. The thickness of the inter-metallic compound layer becomes larger at higher sintering temperature and for longer sintering time. Under the most suitable condition that the aluminum matrix is sintered enough and the thickness of the intermetallic compound layer is not so large, the maximum tensile strength of the composite is obtained. Under the conditions, the strength of the composite sheet increases and the elongation hardly changes with increasing volume fraction of stainless steel mesh to about 20 percent.