Nanostructured Al-ZrAl3 materials consolidated via spark plasma sintering: Evaluation of their mechanical properties

Aluminium based nanostructured materials with additions of 0.5, 1 and 1.5 weight% of zirconium have been produced and sintered using the spark plasma sintering technique in order to promote the nucleation of ZrAl3 platelets. The mechanical behaviour of all these nanocomposites was determined by means of the Small Punch Test. Zirconium additions significantly decrease the mechanical properties of these products when sintering time at the sintering temperature (650oC) is short (3 minutes). Nevertheless, when the sintering time increases to 1 hour (intermetallic crystallization), the zirconium additions show the expected effect: the stiffness and the yield strength increase while ductility and toughness decrease. The maximum load increases until a 0.5 weight% Zr is attained and suddenly drops when the Zr content surpasses 1 weight%.