Interfacial Microstructure in a B₄C/Al Composite Fabricated by Pressureless Infiltration

In this work, B₄C particulate-reinforced Al composite was fabricated by a pressureless infiltration technique, and its interfacial microstructure was studied in detail by X-ray diffraction as well as by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The B₄C phase was unstable in Al melt during the infiltration process, forming AlB₁₀-type AlB₂₄C₄ or Al_2.1B₅₁C₈ as a major reactant phase. The Al matrix was large grains (over 10 μm), which had no definite orientation relationships (ORs) with the randomly orientated B₄C or its reactant particles, except for possible nucleation sites with \( \{ 011\}_{{{\text{B}}_{4} {\text{C}}}} \) almost parallel to {111}_Al at a deviation angle of 1.5 deg. Both B₄C–Al and reactant–Al interfaces are semicoherent and free of other phases. A comparison was made with the SiC/Al composite fabricated similarly by the pressureless infiltration. It was suggested that the lack of ORs between the Al matrix and reinforced particles, except for possible nucleation sites, is the common feature of the composites prepared by the infiltration method.