摘要：Nano-particle reinforced aluminum matrix composites are attractive engineering materials for many automotive and aerospace applications because they exhibit numerous desirable mechanical and thermal properties, such as high specific strength, hardness, stiffness, and resistance to creep and thermal degradation. Unfortunately, making these materials is not easy and most of the methods that have been developed so far for their synthesis are either not robust, inefficient, or not cost effective. In this publication, we report on the synthesis of die-castable aluminum-aluminum nitride nano-composite materials by the reaction of a nitrogen-containing gas with molten aluminum-lithium alloy. Specifically, we report on the effect of (1) the lithium content of the alloy, (2) the composition of the reactive gas, and (3) the reaction time on (a) the amount, (b) the average size, and (c) the average cluster size of the aluminum nitride reinforcing particles; as well as (d) the hardness and (e) the thermal stability of the composite material.
