Study on the Effects of Boron Content and Heat Treatment Process on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Al–B Alloys

Herein, Al–B alloys with different boron volume fractions(10, 20, and 30%) are prepared by powder metallurgy with vacuum hot press sintering process. The microstructures, elemental distributions, and phase compositions of the alloys are systematically analyzed using scanning electron microscopy, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, and X‐ray diffraction, and the effects of boron content and heat treatment process on the mechanical properties are evaluated in combination with room‐temperature tensile tests and fracture scans. The results demonstrate that the boron particle‐reinforced aluminum alloys sintered at 610 °C mainly consist of aluminum, boron, and a small amount of AlB 2 phases, and the alloy with 20% boron content and T6 heat treatment exhibits the highest tensile strength of 272.5 MPa.