| Aluminum powder metallurgy (P/M) is a successful manufacturing technique for the production of light weight structural parts with complex geometries. The focus of this research was to explore the development of alloys based on the Al-Ni-Mg ternary system. In doing so a matrix of different binary and ternary compositions was prepared and each blend then investigated from the perspectives of (a) response to P/M processing and (b) select mechanical properties of the sintered product. Experimental results showed that the alloys sintered to near 95% of full theoretical density and exhibited apparent hardness values up to 90HRB. A combination of electron probe micro-analyses and x-ray diffraction revealed that the nickel reacted with the aluminum to form the Al3Ni intermetallic, while the magnesium primarily went into solid solution in the alpha-aluminum grains. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
