Effect of TiC content on the microstructure, texture and mechanical properties of the 6061Al–TiC/6061Al laminated composites prepared by spark plasma sintering and roll bonding

To improve the deformability of 6061Al–TiC composites, a laminated structure of 6061Al–TiC/6061Al was prepared by combining spark plasma sintering (SPS) and hot roll bonding. T6 treatment was applied to the roll-bonded 6061Al–TiC/6061Al laminated composites. Different contents of TiC nanoparticles were added into the inner 6061Al–TiC composite layers. The effect of the volume fraction of the TiC nanoparticles was revealed on the microstructure characterization, texture evolution and tensile properties. The recrystallization fraction and grain size of the 6061Al–TiC composite layers decreased with increasing TiC nanoparticle volume fraction. The texture in rolled 6061Al–TiC composite layers was characterized by weak Goss and β fiber. After T6 treatment, the texture in the 6061Al was cube component, while the recrystallized grains in the 6061Al–0.2TiC and 6061Al–0.5TiC composite layers exhibited cube and R components, respectively. The tensile strength of the 6061Al–TiC/6061Al laminated composites first increased with the volume fraction of TiC nanoparticles and then decreased when the TiC nanoparticles addition exceeded 0.5 vol%. Whereas, the elongation of the 6061Al–TiC/6061Al laminated composites decreased continuously with increasing the volume fraction of TiC nanoparticles. The ultimate strength and yield strength, respectively reached maximum values of 337 MPa and 316 MPa for the 6061Al–0.5TiC/6061Al laminated composites, and the elongation of the laminated composites was 21.6%. Graphical abstract