Investigating the effect of ceramic-reinforcements on aluminum matrix fabricated by pulsed electric current sintering

Titanium diboride and dinickel boride were used to reinforce the aluminum matrix via a Turbula mixer at 101 rpm. The admixed powders were consolidated by using the pulsed electric current sintering. The powders and sintered samples' microstructural analysis was determined by optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Furthermore, the phase identification of the samples was evaluated with an X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The relative density of the sintered Al sample was observed to be 99.07%. The addition of ceramic reinforcements improved the relative density from 99.07% to 99.64%. The microhardness of sintered samples increased from 34.14 HV1 to 37.50 HV1 due to the ceramic reinforcements.