Impact of Dispersion Hardening by Alumina Nano Particles on Mechanical Properties of Al 1100

The paper presents a study on the effect of adding a small amount of particles to a technically pure aluminum alloy on its structure and mechanical properties. For this purpose laboratory castings of Al 1100 alloy with the addition of 0.5 and 1.0 wt% Al2O3 were produced. The introduction of master alloys containing particles into the melt was accompanied by ultrasonic treatment. Images of the structure of the alloys obtained showed that ultrasonic treatment contributes to producing a material with zero porosity; this fact is also confirmed by the measurement of density which values are close to the theoretical ones. Analysis of mechanical properties revealed that the conditional yield strength, tensile strength and hardness of the nanocomposite with a metal matrix Al 1100/wt. nano Al2O3 were prone to increase with increasing the percentage of aluminum oxide in the matrix alloy while reducing the plasticity. This behavior of studied alloys reinforced with nanoparticles is a consequence of refining the grain structure of the material during crystallization due to the presence of particles acting as inoculants.