Fused silica is a ceramic with promising applications as a filler in composites due to its near-zero thermal expansion. Substitution of heavy cast iron with Al-based light alloys is of utmost importance for the automotive industry. However, the high thermal expansion of Al alloys is an obstacle to their use in some applications. As such, ceramic fillers are natural candidates for tuning thermal expansion of Al-based matrices, due to their inherently moderate or low thermal expansion. Alumix-231 is a new promising alloy, and fused silica has never been used before to lower its thermal expansion. Composites with the addition of 5 to 20 vol.% of fused silica were developed through powder metallurgy, and the best results in terms of reduction of thermal expansion were reached after liquid phase sintering at 565 °C. Coefficients of thermal expansion as low as 13.70 and 12.73 × 10-6 °C-1 (between 25 and 400 °C) were reached for the addition of 15 and 20 vol.% of fused silica, a reduction of 29.9% and 34.8%, respectively, in comparison to neat Alumix-231. In addition, the density and hardness of these composites were not significantly affected, since they suffered only a small decrease, no higher than 6% and 5%, respectively. As such, the obtained results showed that Alumix-231/fused silica composites are promising materials for automotive applications.
Keywords: ceramic filler; coefficient of thermal expansion; liquid phase sintering; powder metallurgy.