（ZrB2＋Al2O3＋Al3Zr）/A356 composites were synthesized by melt direct reaction from A356-（K2ZrF6＋KBF4＋Na2B4O7） system.The phase compositions and the microstructures of the as-prepared composites were investigated by XRD,SEM and TEM.The results show that the reinforcements are composed of ZrB2 and Al2O3 ceramic phase particles and Al3Zr intermetallic particles.The ZrB2 particulates are easy to join together to form some particle clusters and distribute along the α（Al） grain boundary.The morphologies of the ZrB2 particulates are in hexagon-shape with the size of about 50 nm.The TEM investigation results of Al3Zr indicate that Al3Zr grows in the form of facet with the length-diameter ratio of about 20.The morphologies of Al2O3 particles are in rectangular-shape and ellipsoidal-shape,with the size of about 0.1 μm.In addition,the interfaces of the matrix and particles are net and no interfacial outgrowth is observed.
TiB2/Al-30Si composites were fabricated via in-situ melt reaction under high-energy ultrasonic field. The microstructure and wear properties of the composite were investigated by XRD, SEM and dry sliding testing. The results indicate that TiB2 reinforcement particles are uniformly distributed in the aluminum matrix under high-energy ultrasonic field. The morphology of the TiB2 particles is in circle-shape or quadrangle-shape, and the size of the particles is 0.1-1.5μm. The primary silicon particles are in quadrangle-shape and the average size of them is about 10μm. Hardness values of the Al-30Si matrix alloy and the TiB2/Al-30Si composites considerably increase as the high energy ultrasonic power increases. In particular, the maximum hardness value of the in-situ composites is about 1.3 times as high as that of the matrix alloy when the ultrasonic power is 1.2 kW, reaching 412 MPa. Meanwhile, the wear resistance of the in-situ TiB2/Al-30Si composites prepared under high-energy ultrasonic field is obviously improved and is insensitive to the applied loads of the dry sliding testing.
