TiB2/Al-30Si composites were fabricated via in-situ melt reaction under high-energy ultrasonic field. The microstructure and wear properties of the composite were investigated by XRD, SEM and dry sliding testing. The results indicate that TiB2 reinforcement particles are uniformly distributed in the aluminum matrix under high-energy ultrasonic field. The morphology of the TiB2 particles is in circle-shape or quadrangle-shape, and the size of the particles is 0.1-1.5μm. The primary silicon particles are in quadrangle-shape and the average size of them is about 10μm. Hardness values of the Al-30Si matrix alloy and the TiB2/Al-30Si composites considerably increase as the high energy ultrasonic power increases. In particular, the maximum hardness value of the in-situ composites is about 1.3 times as high as that of the matrix alloy when the ultrasonic power is 1.2 kW, reaching 412 MPa. Meanwhile, the wear resistance of the in-situ TiB2/Al-30Si composites prepared under high-energy ultrasonic field is obviously improved and is insensitive to the applied loads of the dry sliding testing.
In situ TiB2/7055 composites were successfully synthesized via magnetic chemical direct melt reaction from 7055 （Al-3B）？Ti system. The phase composition and the microstructure of the composites were investigated by XRD, OM and SEM technologies, and the mechanical and wear properties were tested. The results indicate that with the pulsed magnetic field assistance, the morphologies of in situ TiB2 particles are mainly hexagonal-shape or nearly spherical, the sizes are less than 1 μm, and the distribution of the matrix is uniform. Compared the microstructures of the 7055 aluminum matrix composites synthesized without pulsed magnetic field, the average size ofα（Al） phase with pulsed magnetic field assistance is decreased from 20 to 10μm, the array of the second phase is changed from continuous net-shape to discontinuous shape. With the pulsed magnetic field, the tensile strengths of the composites are enhanced from 310 to 330 MPa, and the elongations are increased from 7.5%to 8.0%. In addition, compared with matrix alloy, the wear mass loss of the composites is decreased from 111 to 78 mg under a load of 100 N for 120 min.
In situ Al2O3np/Al-Al11Ce3 nanocomposite was successfully synthesized from Al-CeO2 system using a novel two-step processing method that combines liquid-state mechanical mixing（step-Ⅰ） and sonochemistry melt reaction（step-Ⅱ）. The microstructural evolution and mechanical properties were investigated by optical microscopy（OM）, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, transmission electron spectroscopy（TEM） and tensile tests, respectively. A good spatial distribution of CeO2 particles in the Al melt was achieved due to reactive wetting during step-Ⅰ, and the following formation of Al2O3 np during step-Ⅱ was attributed to the cavitation-accelerated interfacial reaction. The solidified microstructure comprised uniformly dispersed Al2O3 np in the matrix and ultrafine lamellar Al-Al11Ce3 at the grain boundaries. Such unique microstructure endowed Al2O3np/Al-Al11Ce3 nanocomposite with a good balance between tensile strength（175 MPa） and ductility（18.5%）. The strengthening mechanisms of the nanocomposite included grain refinement, Orowan strengthening and quench strengthening, among which Orowan strengthening contributed the most to the yield strength of the nanocomposite.
