| a | Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA |
| b | Ames Laboratory Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011, USA |
| c | Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute, Helwan, Cairo, Egypt |
Received 30 March 2011; revised 13 May 2011; Accepted 13 May 2011. Available online 24 May 2011.
Abstract
Powders of Al4C3 and SiC were combined by high-energy milling to produce Al4SiC4, Al4SiC4 + 30 vol.% TiC, and Al4SiC4 + 30 vol.% WC. Five different temperatures were used to hot press the constituents. XRD, SEM, relative density, and hardness measurements showed that formation of single-phase Al4SiC4 occurred at 1450 °C and full densification (99%) was achieved at 1500 °C. Both of these temperatures are lower than previously reported. Adding TiC and WC increases hardness, while WC improves densification (99.5%).
