Effect of Material and Process Variables on Characteristics of Nitridation-Induced Self-Formed Aluminum Matrix Composites—Part 2: Effect of Nitrogen Flow Rates and Processing Temperatures

The nitridation-induced self-formed aluminum matrix composite (NISFAC) process is based on the nitridation reaction, which can be significantly influenced by the characteristics of the starting materials (e.g., the chemical composition of the aluminum powder and the type, size, and volume fraction of the ceramic reinforcement) and the processing variables (e.g., process temperature and time, and flow rate of nitrogen gas). Since these variables do not independently affect the nitridation behavior, a systematic study is necessary to examine the combined effect of these variables upon nitridation. In this second part of our two-part report, we examine the effect of nitrogen flow rates and processing temperatures upon the degree of nitridation which, in turn, determines the amount of exothermic reaction and the amount of molten Al in the nitridation-induced self-formed aluminum matrix composite (NISFAC) process. When either the nitrogen flow rate or the set temperature was too low, high-quality composites were not obtained because the level of nitridation was insufficient to fill the powder voids with molten Al. Hence, since the filling of the voids in the powder bed by molten Al is essential to the NISFAC process, the conditions should be optimized by manipulating the nitrogen flow rate and processing temperature.