Fabrication of Aluminum-Silicon Carbide Composites Using Spray-Assisted Roll Bonding

The fabrication of nanoparticle reinforced sheet metal composites may result in composites with promising mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. Cold roll bonding (CRB) is a good candidate for fabricating such composites as it can be easily scaled up for industrial production. Moreover, it eliminates some of the problems accompanied with conventional metal matrix composite (MMC) fabrication methods. This study begins by looking at the effects of surface preparation on the CRB process. Additionally, it looks at fabrication of aluminum-silicon carbide (Al-SiC) composites using CRB and an ultrasonic spray deposition technique. Further, the accumulative roll bonding (ARB) process is investigated as a possibility for increasing the loading capacity of reinforcement particles. The bond strength was tested using a peel test and the bonding and process quality was inspected and analyzed with optical microscopy. The addition of the SiC nanoparticles at the interface increased the bond strength by approximately 1.5 and 2.0 times that of the unsprayed sample. The samples fabricated using ARB were successfully bonded and samples composed of up to 128 layers were successfully fabricated.