THERMAL EXPANSION EVOLUTION OF THE Al-Cu/SiC COMPOSITE ALLOYS

Nowadays, Al/SiC/Cu composites are the research subjects of many studies in the field of meta-matrix composites (MMCs). However, there is little attention to their physical properties in this field specially their dimensional durability to maintain their original dimension under different temperatures. In this study, the thermal-physical properties of these composites and presented models have been investigated. Initially, Al/4%Cu alloy was fabricated via mechanical alloying. Then, Al composites were synthesized with different wt.% ratios of SiC particles (with different particle sizes). Thermal test results on Al–4%Cu/SiC composites revealed that the thermal expansion coefficient of the composite has decreased linearly by increasing the SiC[Formula: see text]wt.% ratio up to 25%. Also, by increasing the temperature up to [Formula: see text]C, the thermal expansion coefficient has increased up to 20.6 for the Al–4%Cu/15[Formula: see text]wt.%SiC sample with a nonlinear trend. Then, thermal tests were performed to study the effect of SiC particle sizes on the thermal expansion coefficient of the Al–4%Cu/SiC composite indicating that the mesh size has no noticeable effect on the thermal expansion coefficient value.