Production of Al-Al2O3 composite material and investigation for weldability of this material by diffusion welding

The alumina consolidated composite material that contains aluminum matrix was produced in this work. Welding process of that produced material with 99,5 % purity aluminum material by diffusion welding method was investigated. The mixture of aluminum powder containing 10 % wt Alumina (Al2O3) was subjected to mechanical alloying process in the high-energy attritor for 2 hours. The powder was pressed at constant pressure (500 MPa) after the process of mechanical welding and the sample blocks were produced at the dimension of Ø10 x 15 mm. All produced samples were sintered in media surrounded by Argon gas in the atmosphere controlled tube furnace for 2 hours at 650 °C. The density of the produced block samples before and after sintering process is measured and compared. Those sintered samples were welded with the Ø10 x 15 mm dimensional 99.5 % purity aluminum blocks at 5 MPa 590 ? 610 ? 630 °C by diffusion welding method for 30 ? 60 -90 minutes. The cutting test was applied to those blocks after the process of diffusion welding. The cutting test values obtained from the aluminum material, composite material and welded samples were compared. Besides, the welding area of samples integrated by diffusion welding was viewed by optical microscope and compared with each other.