Tensile and fracture behavior of spray formed and stir cast Al–2Mg–TiO2 composites

In the present work, tensile and fracture behavior of spray formed and stir cast Al–2Mg–TiO2 composites are studied. The paper illustrates the influence of processing condition on tensile properties and the fracture behavior of composites. The ultimate tensile strength of as-spray formed Al–2Mg–TiO2 composite is about 4–30% higher than as-spray formed Al–2Mg alloy. However, on contrary, the elongation of as-spray formed composite is lower than the base alloy. This is due to the generation of dislocations in composites as a result of thermal mismatch between TiO2 particles and Al matrix. An increase of about 80–100% in UTS is observed on hot and cold rolling of spray formed composites. The crack nucleation mechanism in spray formed composites is either due to particles cracking or particle/matrix debonding, whereas in case of stir cast composites, it was predominantly particle/matrix debonding and particle pull out.