Investigation of alloying effects in aluminum dispersion strengthened with Al$sub 2$O$sub 3$

Two types of alloying elements were investigated to determine if the room-temperature strength could be improved and if, through lowering the oxide content, the high-temperature ductility could be improved. Mg was investigated for its solid solution strengthening in one type alloy. The other type alloy involved further dispersion strengthening through adding Fe, Mo, Zr, Cr, V, and Ti which form highly stable intermetallic compounds with Al. Fabrication techniques were developed which produced uniform and reproducible rods for testing. Prealloyed powders were produced by atomizing the molten alloys and collecting the powders in water. This procedure produced uniform powders with a very fine distribution of the intermetallic compounds. Fabrication into rods then included ball-milling, vacuum hot pressing, vacuum heat treating, and hot extrusion. Mg additions improved strengths up to 200$sup 0$C with little effect above that temperature. Room-temperature tensile strengths up to 77,000 psi were obtained which are comparable to the strengths obtained in conventional aluminum alloys. The additional dispersion strengthening of the intermetallic compounds is additive to that of the oxide from room temperature to 450$sup 0$C. No significant improvements in ductility are obtained by reducing the oxide content since even at very low ball-milling times (i.e., low oxide contents) the uniform elongation at 450$sup 0$C is typically 0.5 percent. Good combinations of strength and ductility at 450$sup 0$C were obtained in some of the alloys containing intermetallic compounds with no ball-milling. Typical properties at this temperature were tensile strengths of 7,000 psi, uniform elongation of 3 percent, and total elongation of 35 percent. (21 tables, 33 fig, 43 references) (auth