The aging behavior of SiC/Gr/6013Al composite in T4 and T6 treatments

The aging behavior of SiCp/Gr/6013Al composite was investigated for both artificial aging (T6) and natural aging (T4) by means of Brinell hardness measurement and compared with that of 6013Al. The results show that SiCp/Gr/6013Al attained peak hardness in a shorter time than 6013Al during artificial aging and the stable hardness of the composite reached in a longer time during natural aging. The increase of aging hardness for SiCp/Gr/6013Al composite was less than for 6013Al for both aging processes due to the lower graphite powder content.