Development of pore-free Ti-Al-C MAX/Al-Si MMC composite materials manufactured by squeeze casting infiltration

Abstract An innovative method of manufacturing of Ti-Al-C MAX/Al-Si MMC composite materials was developed using squeeze casting infiltration of open-porous MAX phase preforms. Self-propagating High-temperature Synthesis (SHS) in microwave-assisted mode was applied for the creation of preforms in the Ti-Al-C system, that were subsequently infiltrated with Al-Si alloy to create dense composite materials. Microstructure and phase composition, structural defects and potential impacts between constituents of manufactured composites were characterized by the means of SEM and TEM microscopies and XRD analysis. No undesired reaction at the interface was observed, but TiC inclusions were identified in the material. Among the mechanical properties, the instrumental Young's modulus and Vickers hardness were established. The hardness and the elastic modulus of the matrix were enhanced 4 to 5 times. Wear behaviour was tested with a “pin-on-flat” method with the reciprocating motion for different load values (0.1, 0.2 and 0.5 MPa) for tool steel counterpart. Wear resistance of the composite material (WR = 1.6–2.3 × 10 −4  mm 3 /Nm) was twofold higher than for the sole matrix (WR = 3.5–4.8 × 10 −4  mm 3 /Nm). The developed manufacturing method allows the effective fabrication of pore-free MAX phase based MMC composite materials, with significantly higher wear resistance than the widely applied Al-Si alloys.