High Porosity Alumina as Matrix Material for Composites of Al-Mg Alloys

The sophisticated industry and technologies require higher and higher assumptions against mechanical strength and surface hardness of ceramic reinforced metal alloys and metal matrix composites. Applying the well-known alumina powders by dry pressing technology and some special pore-forming additives and sintering technology the authors have successfully developed a new, high porosity alumina matrix material for composites of advenced Al-Mg alloys. The developed new matrix material have higher than 30% porosity, with homogenous porous structure and pore sizes from few nano up to 2–3 mm depending on the alloys containments. Thanks to the used materials and the sintering conditions the authors could decrease the wetting angles less than 90° between the high porosity alumina matrix and the Al-Mg alloys.

Applied analytical methods in this research were laser granulometry, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Digital image analysis was applied to microscopy results, to enhance the results of transformation.