| Summary: | Conventional Al-Cu alloys exhibit coarse grain structure leading to inferior mechanical properties in as-cast condition. Expensive thermo-mechanical treatments are needed to improve microstructure and corresponding mechanical properties. In situ Al-based composites were developed to improve mechanical properties by dispersion strengthening and grain refinement obtained by the presence of particulates in the melt during solidification. In this work Al-4Cu - 3TiB2 and Al-4Cu-3ZrB2 in situ composites were prepared by liquid casting method. XRD, electron microscopy and mechanical tests were performed on suitably sectioned and metallographically prepared surfaces to investigate the phase distribution, hardness and tensile properties. It was found that the reinforcement particles were segregated along the grain boundaries of Al dendrites. Tensile fracture morphology for both Al-4Cu - 3TiB2 and Al-4Cu-3ZrB2 were analyzed and compared to determine the fracture propagation mechanism in the composites. Al-4Cu-3ZrB2 in situ composites displayed higher strength and hardness compared to Al-4Cu-3TiB2 which could be ascribed to the stronger interfacial bonding between the Al dendrites and ZrB2 particulates as evidenced from fractographs. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.
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