Aluminum substrates with metal-matrix composite at feature areas

Abstract

A substrate has a body defined at least in part by a single piece of aluminum or aluminum alloy material having a cavity and a pinch-off or other feature area and further having a metal-matrix composite (MMC) layer formed integrally in the body at the pinch-off or other feature area. A process of producing a substrate involves machining a single piece of material to provide a body having a surface and a feature area, the feature area being of smaller dimension than required for the piece, integrally forming a metal-matrix composite layer in the feature area to build up the feature area to at least a dimension required for the piece. The metal-matrix composite comprises an aluminum-nickel alloy matrix (e.g. Al-12Si alloy alloyed with Ni) having WC particles embedded therein or a aluminum matrix (e.g. Al-12Si alloy) having TiC particles embedded therein and has greater wear resistance, greater strength, greater toughness or any combination thereof than the material.

What is claimed, is: 
     
         1 . A substrate, composed of Al or an alloy thereof, with a cladding of a wear resistant metal matrix ceramic (MMC) comprising: a Ni bearing Al alloy matrix with particles of WC; or an Al matrix with particles of TiC, where the cladding is metallurgically bonded to the substrate, and the WC or TiC particles are distributed in the matrix in an amount in a range of from 5 to 50%, based on a weight of the composite. 
     
     
         2 . The substrate according to  claim 1  wherein the Al alloy of which the substrate is composed comprises: Al 2024 all, Al 2124 all, Al 2219 T31 through T87, Al 6009 all, Al 6010 all, Al 6061 T4 through T6511, Al 7075 T6 through T7351, Al 7050 all or Al 7475 all. 
     
     
         3 . The substrate according to  claim 2  wherein the Al alloy of which the substrate is composed comprises Al 7075 T6 through T7351. 
     
     
         4 . The substrate according to  claim 1  wherein the substrate is clad at feature areas thereof and not at a surface of the substrate away from the feature areas, whereby the cladding is not a coating. 
     
     
         5 . The substrate according to  claim 1  wherein the matrix comprises Al-1251 alloy. 
     
     
         6 . The substrate according to  claim 1  wherein the matrix comprises Al 4047. 
     
     
         7 . The substrate according to  claim 1  wherein the WC or TiC particles are distributed in the matrix in an amount in a range of from 10 to 40%, based on the weight of the composite. 
     
     
         8 . The substrate according to  claim 1  wherein the WC or TiC particles are distributed in the matrix in an amount in a range of from 20 to 35%, based on the weight of the composite. 
     
     
         9 . The substrate according to  claim 1  wherein the MMC layer has a microstructure consistent with formation by laser cladding. 
     
     
         10 . The substrate according to  claim 1  wherein cladding has a wear resistance of at least about 5 times that of the substrate. 
     
     
         11 . The substrate according to  claim 1  wherein the cladding comprises WC particles. 
     
     
         12 . The substrate according to  claim 11  wherein the cladding has a Vickers hardness (Hv0.5) of about 200. 
     
     
         13 . The substrate according to  claim 11  wherein the matrix comprises 1.5-5.4% Ni based on weight of the composite. 
     
     
         14 . The substrate according to  claim 11  wherein the matrix comprises 2.4-3.6% Ni based on weight of the composite. 
     
     
         15 . The substrate according to  claim 11  wherein the matrix comprises about 3% Ni based on weight of the composite. 
     
     
         16 . The substrate according to  claim 11  wherein the embedded particles are distributed in the aluminum-nickel alloy matrix in an amount of about 27%, based on the weight of the composite. 
     
     
         17 . The substrate according to  claim 1  wherein the cladding comprises TiC particles. 
     
     
         18 . The substrate according to  claim 17  wherein the cladding has the embedded particles distributed in the aluminum-nickel alloy matrix in an amount of about 30%, based on the weight of the composite.