Metal matrix composites (MMC), especially Al matrix composites, received a lot of attention during many years of research because of their promise for the development of automotive and aerospace materials with improved properties and performance, such as lighter weight and better structural properties, improved thermal conductivity and wear resistance. In order to make the MMC materials more viable in various applications, current research efforts on the MMCs should continue to focus on two important aspects, including improving the properties of MMCs and finding more economical techniques to produce MMCs. Solid state vacuum sintering was studied in tap densified Al powder and in hot quasi-isostatically forged samples composed of commercial inert gas atomized or high purity Al powder, generated by a gas atomization reaction synthesis (GARS) technique. The GARS process results in spherical Al powder with a far thinner surface oxide. The overall results indicated the enhanced ability of GARS-processed Al and Al alloy powders for solid state sintering, which may lead to simplification of current Al powder consolidation processing methods. Elemental Al-based composites reinforced with spherical Al-Cu-Fe alloy powders were produced by quasi-isostatic forging and vacuum hot pressing (VHP) consolidation methods. Microstructures and tensile properties of AYAl-Cu-Fe composites were characterized.
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