Improvements in microstructure and mechanical properties

of AlSiCu alloyAl2O3 nanocomposite modied by ZrO2

Rahman Bajmalu Rostamia) and Mohammad Tajallyb)
Faculty of Materials Engineering and Metallurgy, Semnan University, Semnan, Iran 3513119111
(Received 5 May 2014; accepted 18 August 2014)

In the present research, the microstructures and mechanical properties of AlSiCu alloy matrix
composites reinforced with nanosized alumina (Al2O3) and zirconia (ZrO2) were investigated.
For this purpose, Al2O3 particulates were replaced with different wt% of ZrO2 to improve
microstructure and mechanical properties. The T6 heat treatment was also performed to investigate
mechanical properties in heat-treated condition. Tensile testing, hardness measurement, optical
microscopy, x-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy, and scanning electron
microscope examination were used to characterize the behavior of composite and matrix.
The highest tensile strength was achieved in the specimen containing 1.25 wt% ZrO2 and 0.75 wt%
Al2O3, which shows an increase to 36% in comparison with the nonreinforced base alloy.
The hardness values indicated 11% increase following the heat treatment. Fracture surface
examinations revealed a transition from ductile fracture mode in as-cast aluminum alloy to rather
brittle in AlSiCu alloy matrix hybrid composites.

I. INTRODUCTION

Aluminum matrix composites possess many advantages

such as high specic stiffness, low density, good wear
resistance, high specic strength, good thermal stability,
and electromagnetic shielding capacities with the
development of some noncontinuous reinforcement
materials, bers, whisker, or particles. In particular,
particle-reinforced aluminum matrix composites not
only have good mechanical and wear properties but
also are economically viable. 15
Usually, microceramic particles are used to improve the
yield and ultimate strength. However, it was reported that
the elongation, ultimate strength, and yield strength (YS)
of the Al matrix composites reinforced with nanosized
ceramic particles were enhanced more signicantly than
those reinforced with microsized particles.6,7Tahamtan
et al.8 showed that decreasing alumina particle size from
micrometer (10 lm) to nanometer (100 nm) caused
improvement in tensile strength of composite. In another
study, Ma et al.9 suggested that the tensile strength of
1 vol% Si3N4 (10 nm)/Al composite was comparable to
that of the 15 vol% SiCp (3.5 lm)/Al composite, while the
YS of the former is much higher than that of the latter.
Tian et al.10 posited that the tensile testing showed an
increase in the tensile strength and a considerable increase
of the elongation in the 2024Al matrix composites reinforced by the ZrB2 nanoparticles, compared with the
Address all correspondence to these authors.
a)
e-mail: rahman_bajmalu@yahoo.com
b)
e-mail: m_tajally@profs.semnan.ac.ir
DOI: 10.1557/jmr.2014.241
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unreinforced 2024Al alloy. Hemanth11 reported that the

presence of nano-ZrO2 particulates in Al matrix noticeably
improved hardness, strength, and fracture toughness but
with slight reduction in ductility.
Hybrid aluminum nanocomposites can be considered
as an outstanding material, where high strength and
wear-resistant components were of major importance,
particularly structural applications in the aerospace,
automotive, and military industries.12 Thakur et al.13
showed that the addition of SiC nanoparticulates to
hybrid (Al/Ti 1 SiC) composites assisted in increasing
microhardness, macrohardness, AlTi interfacial hardness,
0.2% YS, and ultimate tensile strength (UTS), whereas
the ductility was marginally affected. Ahamed and
Senthilkumar14 fabricated Al alloy composite reinforced by nanosized Al2O3 and Y2O3 particulates and
reported that the 0.2% YS, UTS, and work of fracture
were improved over the unreinforced A16063 alloy, and
failure strain was decreased in reinforced nanocomposites.
ANSI 332 aluminum alloy, with 9.5% Si, 3.0% Cu,
and 1.0% Mg, typically has applications in automotive
piston and parts requiring elevated temperature strength.15
In this study, combined addition of Al2O3 and ZrO2
nanopowders on the mechanical properties of ANSI 332
aluminum alloy was investigated. Nanocomposite was
produced by stir casting in the present research. The main
advantages of Al2O3 are its high hardness and wear
resistance, whereas ZrO2 exhibits higher strength and
fracture toughness, besides its lower Youngs modulus.16
Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the
possibility of replacing ZrO2 with Al2O3 as suitable
candidates in the hybrid composites.
Materials Research Society 2014

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R.B. Rostami et al.: Improvements in microstructure and mechanical properties of AlSiCu alloyAl2O3 nanocomposite modified by ZrO2

II. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

Chemical composition of ANSI 332 alloy is given in

Table I. In addition, physical and mechanical properties
of this alloy are shown in Table II. The alloy was melted
in a graphite crucible in ambient atmosphere using an
electrical furnace. Nanoreinforcements were produced by
ball-mill processing of microalumina and microzirconia
particulates. The average sizes of nanoalumina and nanozirconia particulates were 30 and 35 nm, respectively.
In the rst stage of the study, the total amount of nanopowders including Al2O3 and ZrO2 was considered equal
to 2 wt%. The names allocated to the samples and the
amounts of any nanoceramics added to the alloy used in
this experiment are presented in Table III. In the next
step, nanocomposites reinforced by 1 wt% Al2O3 and
different ZrO2 contents including 2 and 3 wt% ZrO2.
After additions, the melt was stirred in 750 C for 5 min
to acquire uniform distribution of powders within the
melt. The melt was cast in a permanent mold at 725 C.
The as-cast samples were machined based on ASTM E
8M04. A SANTAM Universal tensile/compression testing machine/STM-50 series (SANTAM-Iran, Tehran, Iran)
equipped with a data acquisition system was used to carry
out the tensile tests at room temperature at a strain rate of
1 mm/min. To compare mechanical behavior of as-cast
and heat-treated samples, some samples were heat treated
through solution treatment at 500 C for 6 h followed by
quenching in water at 60 C. Articial aging was carried
out for samples at 205 C for 9 h. A programmable
Nabertherm furnace was used for heat treating. The
hardness of as-cast and heat-treated alloys and nanocomposites was measured using an ERNST Brinell hardness tester at an applied load of 187.5 kgf and 2.5-mm
TABLE I. Chemical composition of experimental ANSI 332 alloy.
Composition (wt%)
Si
Cu
Mg
Mn
Fe
Zn
Ni
Cr
Al

9.7
2.1
1.0
0.12
0.45
0.03
0.07
0.003
Rem.

diameter ball. The samples were grounded, polished, and

etched by Keller etch reagent for 15 s and then were studied
using optical microscopy. A Bruker D8 ADVANCE x-ray
diffractometer (Karlsruhe, Germany) and a TESCAN
VEGA II XMU scanning electron microscopy (coupled
with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) to identify
elements) were used to study the intermetallic phases
of nanocomposites. Fracture surfaces of tensile test samples
were examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM) to
determine the macroscopic fracture mode.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A. Microstructural characterization

Optical micrographs of the as-cast and heat-treated

samples are shown in Figs. 1 and 2, respectively.
The microstructure of ANSI 332-cast alloy consists of
a-phase dendrites (light gray, 1), eutectic phase (mixture of
a-matrix, and rounded dark gray Si phases, 2) and some
intermetallic phases. It is observed that large akes of
eutectic silicon phases with sharp tips changed into
spherical shape particles after the heat treatment. This
change decreases stress concentration and susceptible
sites to crack nucleation.
A number of Fe-rich intermetallic phases, including
a (Al8 Fe 2Si or Al15(FeMn) 3 Si 2), b (Al5 FeSi),
p (Al 8 Mg 3 FeSi 6 ), and d (Al 9 FeSi 3), have been identied in AlSi cast alloys. 1720 Intermetallic phase
Al 15 (FeMn)3 Si2 (alpha- or a-phase) with cubic crystal
structure forms in skeleton like morphology or in
form Chinese script. Presence of Mg with Si results
in an alternative called p-phase form, Al 5 Si 6Mg 8Fe2 ,
which has script-like morphology. Cu is also present
in AlSiCu cast alloys primarily as phases: Al 2Cu,
AlAl2CuSi, or Al5Cu2Mg8Si6. Al2Cu with tetragonal
crystal structure generally precipitates as ne spheroidal
AlAl2CuSi ternary eutectic.21 The compact skeleton-like
morphology that was seen in micrographs (Fig. 3) and
XRD examination of experimental ANSI 332 alloy can
be an evident of existence of some of these phases such
as Al8Mg3FeSi6 and Al2Cu (Fig. 4).
Furthermore, investigation by SEM and EDS
revealed intermetallic compounds that are shown in
Fig. 5(a) by arrow marks. The Al, Si, and Zr elements
were identied by EDS analysis [Fig. 5(b)]. Zhu
et al.22 fabricated AlZrO2C composite by in situ

TABLE II. Physical and mechanical properties of ANSI 332 aluminum alloy based on ASTM SB-108.
Alloy
ANSI
332.0

UNS
A03320

Melting temperature
range (F)
9701080

Tensile strength,
min, ksi (MPa)

Typical Brinell
hardness

31.0 (214)

105

Temper
T5

Fluidity
1

Pressure
tightness

Resistance to
corrosion

Polishing

Anodizing

1 indicates best of the group; 5 indicates poorest of the group.

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R.B. Rostami et al.: Improvements in microstructure and mechanical properties of AlSiCu alloyAl2O3 nanocomposite modified by ZrO2

TABLE III. Designation of the nanocomposite samples.

Sample no.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 (base alloy)

Al2O3 (wt%)

ZrO2 (wt%)

0
0.25
0.5
0.75
1.0
1.25
1.5
1.75
2.0
0

2.0
1.75
1.5
1.25
1.0
0.75
0.5
0.25
0
0

of Al3Zr is the main feature in the microstructures and

mechanical properties of AlSiCuMg alloys in the
presence of Zr, which also leads to the formation of Al3Zr.
According to the EDS analysis result, the intermetallic
phases observed in microstructure [Fig. 5(a)] can be
attributed to Al3Zr. It is possible that greater precipitating
of this compound occurs throughout the matrix by
increasing in zirconia content.
Microstructure examination of nanocomposite surfaces
shows that increase in alumina content results in porosity.
However, this is not observed in samples with high content
of zirconia. The porosity is an inevitable consequence of
stir-casting method; however, the microscopic observations revealed no porosity in nanocomposites reinforced by
1.252 wt% ZrO2. The porosity happened in the sample
reinforced by different amounts of reinforcements is
shown in Fig. 6. Furthermore, microstructural analysis
of composites revealed that agglomeration of alumina
particulates occurred throughout the samples, Fig. 7(a).
However, agglomeration of reinforcements was not
observed in composites reinforced by high content of ZrO2,
even uniform distribution of nanoparticulates is noticeable
in these samples [Fig. 7(b)].
B. Mechanical properties

1. Hardness
FIG. 1. Optical micrograph of as-cast ANSI 332 aluminum alloy.

FIG. 2. Optical micrograph of heat-treated ANSI 332 aluminum alloy.

method and declared that Al3Zr phase could be formed

through an exothermic reaction between Al and ZrO2
at 1023 K (750 C) based on the reaction formula
13Al 1 3ZrO2 5 2Al 2 O3 (a) 1 3Al 3Zr. This coherent
precipitate, which is essentially inert in the matrix, acts as
hard pinning points in the matrix inhibiting dislocation
motion leads to affect the strength of the material. 23
The main advantage of the precipitate formed is its
stability at elevated temperatures because of the low
solubility of this precipitate. However, Mohamed and
Samuel24 highlight the fact that the intermetallic phase

The hardness values of the as-cast and heat-treated

composites for different percent of reinforcements are
shown in Fig. 8(a). It is observed that the average hardness
values improved nearly 10% with the addition of various
amounts of reinforcements in comparison with the base
alloy. Furthermore, heat treatment resulted in hardness
improvement. Heat treatment increases the average
hardness up to 11% compared with the as-cast samples,
probably because of diffusion proceeding that leads to
better bonding of the nanoparticulates to the matrix and
precipitation hardening. The most effect of additions
was observed in hardness value of samples 7 and 9 with
13.5% growth in hardness, which indicated that hardness
enhanced with increasing Al 2 O3 amount. It can
attribute to larger hardness of alumina than zirconia
because the hardness of composites depends on the
hardness of the reinforcement and the matrix25 ;
(hardness: alumina 5 22 GPa and zirconia 5 14 GPa26).
The comparison of hardness values of sample 1 and
sample 9 reveals that the addition of 2 wt% ZrO2 and
2 wt% Al2O3 increased hardness up to 5 and 13.5%,
respectively, that is, higher hardness of alumina provides
higher hardness.
2. Tensile properties
The inuence of weight percentage of reinforcements
and heat treatment on the YS of ANSI 332/Al2O3 1 ZrO2
composites is shown in Fig. 8(b).The results indicate that

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R.B. Rostami et al.: Improvements in microstructure and mechanical properties of AlSiCu alloyAl2O3 nanocomposite modified by ZrO2

FIG. 3. Intermetallic phase: (a) Fe-rich phase. (b) EDS spectra of the phase (marked by arrow), which can be attributed to Al 8 Mg 3FeSi 6.

FIG. 4. XRD examination of experimental ANSI 332 alloy.

the average YS values increases by 8.6% after heat

treatment. In the course of cooling, dislocations form
at the matrix/reinforcement interface owing to the thermal
mismatch. Based on Besterci et al.,27 the YS of the Al
alloys relates to the interaction between particulate and
dislocations by means of the Orowan bowing mechanism.
The tangled dislocations around the agglomeration of
the particulates could contribute a reinforcement effect
in the Al alloy matrix. Figure 8(b) shows that increase in
the amount of ZrO2 results in increase of YS values.
Results present an increase of 23% YS in composite
over the as-cast condition base alloy and an increase of
26% YS in the heat-treated composite over the heat-treated
base alloy in the composite reinforced with 1.75 wt% ZrO2
and 0.25 wt% Al2O3.
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The general descending trend in YS values of samples

with increasing Al2O3 indicates that increase in alumina
percentage has a negative effect on tensile behavior of
samples. For composites reinforced with 1.75 wt% Al2O3,
the tensile test results show that nanocomposites failed at
smallest yield values rather than the base alloy.
The UTS values of as-cast and heat-treated specimens is
shown in Fig. 8(c). The UTS follows the same trend as the
YS of ANSI 332/Al2O3 1 ZrO2 nanocomposites. There is
an increase of 30% UTS in the composite reinforced with
2 wt% ZrO2 over the as-cast alloy. There is also an
increase of 36% UTS in the heat-treated composite in
comparison with the heat-treated ANSI 332 alloy when
the metal matrix alloy is reinforced with 1.25 wt% ZrO2
and 0.75 wt% Al2O3. Based on the obtained results, the

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R.B. Rostami et al.: Improvements in microstructure and mechanical properties of AlSiCu alloyAl2O3 nanocomposite modified by ZrO2

FIG. 5. (a) SEM micrograph of nanocomposite reinforced by 2 wt% ZrO2. (b) EDS spectra of the phase (marked by arrow), which can be
attributed to (Al,Si)3Zr.

FIG. 6. SEM photographs of nanocomposites show porosity in

reinforced samples (a) 2 wt% ZrO2, (b) 1.75 wt% Al2O3 and 0.25
wt% ZrO2, and (c) 2 wt% Al2O3.

mean of UTS values increased by 12% using the T6 heat

treatment for this Al alloy reinforced with alumina and
zirconia. Furthermore, it is clearly observed that the T6
heat treatment has a better effect on UTS values than the
YS values of nanocomposites.
With increasing the amount of alumina, the values of
yield and ultimate strength decreases. The decrease in the
yield and ultimate strengths can be due to the formation

of clusters of Al2O3 in the nanocomposites at high weight

percentage of Al2O3. The reason could be the inhomogeneous distribution of reinforcements and degree of
clustering, which could reduce the effective amount of
powders for strengthening. Furthermore, the porosity
of samples increased when alumina content was higher
than zirconia content. Another reason for this behavior
may involve wettability of alumina nanoparticulates.
According to the recent works, below 1000 C, the contact
angle between aluminum and Al2O3 is greater than 90,
resulting in poor wetting by the liquid metal.28,29 This poor
wetting behavior favors clustering of the alumina particles,
thereby limiting the degree to which Al2O3 can be
incorporated in a liquid melt.
However, in the process of load transfer, the matrix
transfers the load to the nanoparticulates. So if the
boundary is assumed to be strong, ceramic particles
prevent plastic deformation of the matrix and this leads
to the strengthening and higher work-hardening rate.30
In the case of Al2O3, weak bonding between the particle and matrix declines the plastic deformation and
UTS values.
The inuence of the heat treatment on the ductility
(measured in terms of tensile elongation) has illustrated in
Fig. 8(d). The results show that the average values of
elongation declined by around 5% applying the T6 heat
treatment on nanocomposites. The general descending
trend in ductility values of samples with increase in Al2O3
weight percentage is shown in Fig. 8(d). It was veried
from the work carried out by Hajizamani and Baharvandi31
that ductility of the composites reinforced with Al2O3
decreased with increase in alumina content because of
porosity content. According to the YS and UTS values,
it can be concluded that in simultaneous using of Al2O3
and ZrO2 nanoparticulate reinforcements in ANSI 332

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R.B. Rostami et al.: Improvements in microstructure and mechanical properties of AlSiCu alloyAl2O3 nanocomposite modified by ZrO2

aluminum alloy, the mechanical behavior of nanocomposites increased with increase in the weight percentage
of zirconia.
According to the XRD and EDS analysis of microstructures, the most intermetallic phases formed in nanocomposites are Al2Cu, Al15(FeMn)3Si2, Al8Mg3FeSi6, and
Al3Zr. The coherent precipitates such as Al3Zr are
undissolved even in elevated temperatures.23
It is possible that volume fraction of the intermetallic
compound rises as the percentage of ZrO2 increases.
The comparison in UTS values of composites shows

FIG. 7. SEM photograph of nanocomposites (a) agglomeration of

alumina in reinforced 2 wt% Al2O3 composite, (b) uniform distribution
of reinforcements in composite reinforced by 1.75 wt% ZrO2 and 0.25
wt% Al2O3.

that the Zr and Al may interact between themselves to

form new phases, which lead to increase in the strength
of nanocomposites.
For more study on the effect of ZrO2 on Al2O3reinforced composite, the nanocomposites reinforced by
1 wt% Al2O3 and different contents of ZrO2 including
2 and 3 wt% ZrO2 have been investigated to conrm the
benecial effect of zirconia particles. The inuence of
adding zirconia content on tensile properties is shown in
Fig. 9. Although alumina content is constant, improvement in tensile properties can be attributed to increase in
weight percentage of zirconia. It is observed from Fig. 9
that the addition of 2 and 3 wt% ZrO2 changes UTS
from 213 MPa to 227 and 248 MPa, respectively, and an
increase of 7 and 15% was observed over the composite
reinforced by 1 wt% ZrO2. The YS values increased by
3 and 7% showing that increase in zirconia content had
a better effect on UTS than YS value.
Another possible mechanism that may play a role in
the improvement of properties with increase in zirconia
content is the effect of zirconia as the barrier to crack
propagation during the tetragonal to monoclinic transformation. Rendtorff et al.32 suggested that tetragonal to
monoclinic phase transformation is a martensitic transformation and independent of temperature and atoms
diffusion. This transformation acts as a barrier to crack
growth and increases resistance of the base alloy. The
expansion occurred due to the tetragonal to monoclinic

FIG. 8. Mechanical properties of as-cast and heat-treated samples. (a) Hardness values, (b) 0.1% proof stress, (c) UTS, and (d) elongation values.
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R.B. Rostami et al.: Improvements in microstructure and mechanical properties of AlSiCu alloyAl2O3 nanocomposite modified by ZrO2

transformation forms the impacted regions, which hardens

crack propagation. When this mechanism takes place in
composites, a part of energy is consumed by transformation during cracking and results in toughening of
the material.33 Increase in zirconia content leads to
increase in monoclinic zirconia phases; therefore, the
residual stresses are raised by expansion because of
transformation that results in improvement in composite
toughness. The stressstrain diagrams for nanocomposites
reinforced by 1 wt% Al2O3 and different contents of ZrO2
are shown in Fig. 10. The fracture toughness (KIC) of
materials which is required energy for fracture and equals
to the area beneath the stress-strain diagram. Figure 10
shows that the area beneath the stressstrain diagrams
(the toughness fracture of nanocomposites) increases by
increase in the zirconia content.

3. Fracture behavior
The ductile to brittle fracture at macroscale fracture
surface examinations was observed. Tensile fracture surfaces of heat-treated samples of numbers 2, 4, and 6 are
shown in Figs. 11(a)11(c).
It is observed from SEM photographs that increase
in alumina content results in porosity and brittle
behavior of fracture mode. Generally, porosities and
voids have an important role in brittle manner. The
fracture of metal matrix composites occurs in one or
combined condition of these mechanisms: reinforcement
fracture,34 matrix/reinforcement interfacial decohesion,35
and failure in the matrix.36 Results show that fracture
behavior in this research followed by the third mechanism. Reinforcement nanoparticles are pushed toward by
solid/liquid interface during solidication and are localized
in interdendritic regions or the last solidied zones.
Figures 11(a) and 11(b) show the dendritic structures
in the fracture surface. These structures are observed in
vast areas of fracture surfaces. It shows that the main
mechanism of failure is interdendritic cracking. This
failure mode is identical for the unreinforced ANSI 332
alloy that has been recently investigated.37 During solidication of the composite, the nanoparticles and alloying
elements (mainly Si) are rejected to the solidliquid
interface and segregate to the interdendritic regions.34
The microcracks propagate along interdendritic aluminum
silicon eutectic during the fracture and failure of the
specimens occurs. It indicates that fracture behavior is
controlled by fracture of matrix because of aggregation of
nanoparticles in silicon eutectic.
Dimples that are observed in some areas of fracture
surfaces, shown in Fig. 11(c), may be a result of the void
nucleation at eutectic silicon particles and subsequent

FIG. 9. UTS and YS values of composites reinforced by 1 wt% Al2O3

and different contents of ZrO2.

FIG. 10. Stressstrain diagrams for nanocomposites reinforced by

1 wt% Al2O3 and different contents of ZrO2.

FIG. 11. SEM micrograph of fracture surface of heat-treated tensile

samples: (a) 0.25 wt% Al2O3, (b) 0.75 wt% Al2O3, (c) 1.25 wt% Al2O3.

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R.B. Rostami et al.: Improvements in microstructure and mechanical properties of AlSiCu alloyAl2O3 nanocomposite modified by ZrO2

FIG. 12. SEM micrograph of fracture surface of nanocomposites

reinforced by 1 wt% Al2O3 and (a) 1 wt% ZrO2, (b) 2 wt% ZrO2,
(c) 3 wt% ZrO2.

coalescence by shear deformation and fracture process on

the shear plane.38 It is reported in the researches that all
the fracture surfaces of the composites consist mainly of
dimples in the matrix and fragmentation and decohesion
of the particles from the matrix. The fracture and decohesion of the particles can be explained by work hardening
and the fragmentation of the ceramic phase caused by high
stress concentration.37,39
Tensile fracture surfaces of nanocomposites reinforced
by 1 wt% Al2O3 and different contents of ZrO2 including
1, 2, and 3 wt% are shown in Fig. 12(a)12(c), respectively. These gures clearly show that the brittle behavior
of fracture enhanced with increase in zirconia content.
The glossy broken planes indicate cleavage fracture of
samples. This type of fracture occurs by rapid crack
propagation and without appreciable macroscopic deformation. It is clearly observed that the dimple structure
changes to complete brittle manner by increasing the
zirconia content.
It is reported by Zhang et al.40 that the fracture mode
turns to the combination of transgranular failure and
intergranular failure in aluminum composite with the
addition of ZrO2 because of stronger bonding of grains,
which resulted in improvement in fracture toughness of
composite.
IV. CONCLUSION

The characteristics and mechanical behavior of ANSI

332 matrix composite reinforced with nanosized alumina
(Al2O3) and zirconia (ZrO2) were investigated. The
following conclusions can be drawn:
(1) Replacing zirconia with alumina in constant total
wt% reinforcement leads to improvement in tensile
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properties. It can be attributed to the formation of hard

intermetallic phases such as (Al,Si)3Zr, enhancing in
wettability Al2O3 particulates and reducing in porosity,
which leads to enhancing UTS and YS.
(2) The highest tensile strength achieved in the
specimen containing 1.25 wt% ZrO2 and 0.75 wt%
Al2O3 can be attributed to increase in zirconia content,
which play a remarkable role in improving the microstructure of composite.
(3) It has been found that the maximum value of
hardness is acquired at maximum values of Al2O3.
(4) The sensitivity of UTS to heat treatment is more
than YS.
(5) It is observed from SEM photographs that increase
in alumina content converts the fracture behavior from
rather ductile, with ne ductile dimples to brittle, with
cleavage facets.
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