TEHRAN (INIC)- Iranian researchers in collaboration with German colleagues managed to produce a type of strong aluminum nanocomposite suitable for airplane and race car parts.

"Collaboration between Dr. Mohammad Hossein Enayati and Professor Beiss from RWTH Aachen University made it possible for us to synthesize in situ Al-TiB2 nanocomposites through several successive steps like mechanical alloying, spark plasma sintering and hot extrusion process," Zohreh Sadeghian, a member of the research group, explained to the News Service of INIC.

Then the structural behaviors, thermal stability and mechanical properties of the nanocomposites were fully investigated, she added.

TiB2 enjoys advantages like low density, high mechanical strength, high melting point and resistance toward erosion, and therefore it was selected in synthesis of the mentioned nanocomposites. Spark plasma sintering was chosen for its capability to produce dense structures of nanometric sizes in a short time.

It is also possible and practical to control chemical composition of the ultimate product so that unwanted phases would be prevented. In addition, the prepared parts both at room or high temperatures exhibit higher solidity compared to those synthesized in previous researches, and as a result they can be used in aero-space and race car industries.

Detailed information on this research work is available at the Journal of Materials Science, volume 44, pages 2566 to 2572, 2009.