Hot deformation at elevated temperature is essential to densify particle-reinforced aluminum matrix composites (AMCs) and improve their performance. However, hot deformation behavior of the AMCs is sensitive to the variation of hot-processing parameters. In this paper, optimal processing parameters of dual-scale SiCp/A356 composites were determined to explore the control strategy of the microstructure. Hot-compression tests were conducted at temperatures ranging from 460 to 520 °C under strain rates from 0.01 to 5 s-1. Constitutive equation and processing maps were presented to determine the hot-processing parameters. Microstructure evolution of the dual-scale SiCp/A356 composites was analyzed. The strain rate of 0.62-5 s-1 and deformation temperature of 495-518 °C is suitable for the hot processing. The number of dynamic recrystallization (DRX) grains in the "safe" domains is larger and the dislocation density is lower compared to those of instability domains. DRX grains mainly occurred around SiC particles. The presence of SiC particles can promote effectively the DRX nucleation, which results in the dynamic softening mechanism of the dual-scale SiCp/A356 composites being dominated by DRX.
Keywords: constitutive equation; dual-scale SiCp/A356 composites; hot deformation behavior; microstructure; processing map.