PUBLICACIÓN

ARTÍCULO

Application of ball milling in the synthesis of AA 7075–ZrO2 metal matrix nanocomposite

S.E. Hernández-Martínez a,⁎, J.J. Cruz-Rivera a, C.G. Garay-Reyes b, C.G. Elias-Alfaro a, R. Martínez-Sánchez b, J.L. Hernández-Rivera c
Powder Technology 284 (2015) 40–46 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2015.06.030 0032-5910/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved., 2015.

ABSTRACT:

Ball milling was used to reduce the particle size of yttria-stabilized ZrO2 powders with the aim of introducing it into theAA 7075 matrix. Itwas observed that during themechanical milling of the ZrO2 powders a destabilization of the tetragonal structure occurred, which was confirmed by the X-ray diffraction results. A transition from tetragonal to monoclinic structure resulted as a consequence of the application of ball milling. The synthesis of the compositewas carried out in the same way by applying mechanical ball milling in order to disperse 2 and 5 wt.% of zirconiumoxide particles into the Al alloy matrix. Itwas found that longer timeswere needed for the 5wt.% of ZrO2 to achieve a complete dispersion into the matrix, unlike 2 wt.% of ZrO2 sample, being 15 and 10 h, respectively. It was evident that the presence of ZrO2 particles had a marked influence upon the powder morphology and particle size of the matrix during the milling process. Despite the structural change observed, a relatively good homogenous dispersion of ZrO2 particles was found after ball milling.