The Effect of Compression Aided by Additional Shear Stress on Microstructure of Composites Reinforced with Ceramic Particles

The paper presents a new method for processing of cast composites reinforced with ceramic particles in order to improve the microstructure homogeneity and material properties. The presented forming method consists in compression aided by additional shear stress that is caused by transverse motion of a punch. As a result, severe plastic deformation can be obtained in a workpiece. A series of experiments was conducted for previously cast Al-Mg-Cu matrix composites containing 15% reinforcement in a form of the mixture of SiC and glassy carbon particles. It was found that the applied method allows to refine the particles and to obtain a good-quality bonding on the particle-matrix interface.