Abstract
This article aims to manufacture homogenous dual-matrix Al-Mg/Al(2)O(3 )nanocomposite from their raw materials and give insight into the correlation between powder morphology, crystallite structure and their mechanical and tribological properties. Al-Mg dual-matrix reinforced with micro/nano Al2O3 particles was manufactured by a novel double high-energy ball milling process followed by a cold consolidation and sintering. Microstructure and phase composition of the prepared samples were characterized using FE-SEM, EDS and XRD inspections. Mechanical and wear properties were characterized using compression and sliding wear tests. The results showed that a milling of Mg with Al2O3 particles in an initial step before mixing with Al has the beneficial of well dispersion of Al2O3 nanoparticles in Al-Mg dual matrix. The Al-Mg dual matrix reinforced with nano-size Al2O3 showed 3.29-times smaller crystallite size than pure Al. Moreover, the hardness and compressive strength are enhanced by adding nano-size Al2O3 with Al-Mg dual matrix composite while the ductility is maintained relatively high. Additionally, the wear rate of this composite was reduced by a factor of 2.7 compared to pure Al. The reduced crystallite size, the dispersion of Al2O3 nanoparticles and the formation of (Al-Mg) were the main improvement factors for mechanical and wear properties.