On the Strength of Silicon Carbide Particulate Reinforced Aluminium Alloy Matrix Composites

In the present study, the modified continuum model, quench strengthening and dislocation pile-up model was respectively used to estimate the yield strength of SiCp/Al composites. The experimental results showed that the modified shear lag model or quench strengthening model would underestimate the yield strength of SiCp/Al composites. However, the modified Hall-Petch correlation on the basis of the dislocation pile-up model, expressed as σcy = 244 + 371λ-1/2, fitted very well with the experimental data, which indicated that the strength increase of SiCp/Al composites might be due to the direct blocking of dislocation motion by the particulate-matrix interface.Namely, the dislocation pile-up is the most possible strengthening mechanism for SiCp/Al composites.