Deformation behavior of AA2017-SiCp in warm and hot deformation regions

In this work, the flow stress behavior of a metal matrix composite AA2017-10% SiCp was studied by means of the uni-axial compression test. The composite was first produced by stir casting technique and then, hot extrusion with the ratio of 18:1 was carried out to achieve a microstructure with a homogeneous distribution of SiC particles. In the next stage, the isothermal compression tests were conducted on the cylindrical specimens up to the true strain of 0.6. The experiments were performed at temperatures between room temperature to 400 degrees C and strain rates of 0.003, 0.03 and 0.3 s(-1). Negative strain rate sensitivity was observed in the temperatures less than 250 degrees C indicating the occurrence of dynamic strain aging. However, at higher temperatures a regular hot deformation behavior associated with dynamic recovery as the main restoration mechanism was detected while the apparent activation energy for hot deformation was calculated about 303 kJ/mole. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.