Effect of Holding Time on Densification, Microstructure and Selected Properties of Spark Plasma Sintered AA7075-BC Composites.

The paper presents the effect of the holding time, varying between 1 min 15 s and 10 min, on the microstructure evolution and development of selected properties of spark plasma sintered AA7075-based composites reinforced with 3, 5 and 10 wt% sub-micro BC powder. The sintering temperature and the compaction pressure were 500 °C and 80 MPa, respectively. Composites with a near full density of 96-97% were obtained.