The investigation of an Al-Zr-Ti alloy prepared by spark plasma sintering of atomized powder

The microstructure and mechanical properties of a powder metallurgical Al-Zr-Ti alloy was studied. Fine powder with a typical size below 50 ?m was prepared by gas atomization. The smallest powder particles with a diameter below 10 ?m exhibited a segregation free microstructure. Larger droplets were found to contain intermetallic particles rich in Zr and Ti. The gas atomized powder was consolidated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) at various temperatures ranging from 450 to 550 °C. During SPS the materials microstructure remained nearly unchanged and a fine grain size between 2 and 3 ?m was observed. All SPS samples exhibited a microhardness of around 90 HV. The annealing (1 h, 500 °C) of the sample sintered at the highest temperature (550 °C) resulted in a decrease of microhardness to 75 HV as a result of changes in the phase composition, the fine grain size was retained. Natural aging at room temperature was not observed