Evaluation of aluminium/alumina/titanium composites produced by continual annealing and roll-bonding process

Abstract

Anodising, continual annealing and roll-bonding (CAR) processes were employed to fabricate aluminium/alumina/titanium composites with different amounts of alumina. After each rolling cycle, annealing treatment was performed at 300°C for 1 h. After six cycles of CAR process, the Al/0.22 vol.-% Al₂O₃/13vol.-%Ti composite showed uniform alumina and titanium particles distribution. The tensile strength of the composites first decreased after the first cycle, then increased up to 200 MPa after the sixth cycle. Conversely, by increasing the alumina content (Al/0.43vol.-%Al₂O₃/13vol.-%Ti composite), microhardness and tensile strength immediately increased. SEM micrographs demonstrated that by increasing the number of cycles, the dimples density increased from 0.007 to 0.028 µm⁻² for the first and the last cycles, respectively.