Unveiling the deformation behavior and strengthening mechanisms of Al3BC/Al composites via in-situ micropillar compression

Al3BC has been proved to be a promising candidate as the reinforcement for Al alloys. However the deformation behavior and strengthening mechanisms remain unclear hitherto. In this work, the deformation behavior and strengthening mechanisms of Al3BC/Al composites were investigated via in-situ micropillar compression. Wrinkled slip bands and slip homogenization were observed in the composites instead of large parallel slip bands in pure Al. The interaction between Al3BC and dislocations was investigated in this work. Microstructural characterization reveals that the high density dislocations and Al3BC-induced ultrafine sub-grains determine its excellent strengthening effects on Al matrix. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.