Manufacturing of AA7075 Aluminum Alloy Composites Reinforced by Nanosized Particles of SiC, TiN, and ZnO by High-Energy Ball Milling and Hot Extrusion

In this work, composite powders of aluminum alloy 7075 (AA7075) reinforced by 2 weight percent of nanosized particles of silicon carbide (SiC), titanium nitride (TiN), and zinc oxide (ZnO) were produced in a bath of isopropyl alcohol by high energy ball milling during 480 min at 25 ºC, 900 rpm, and Balls-to-Powder Weight Ratio (BPR) of 20:1. The techniques of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Laser Diffraction Method (LDM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and microanalysis of Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) were used to characterize the powders as received and processed. Then, the composites were hot extruded and characterized by XRD, SEM, and microhardness Vickers (HV). The milling process reduces the crystallite and particle size to around 30 nm and 10 µm, respectively. After extrusion, a fine microstructure and good consolidation were found for all bars, except for AA7075 as received. The ranging microhardness values were from 97 HV to 121 HV.