The increasing demand of PM parts for automobile and aerospace applications has caused a strong development of the aluminium based metal matrix composites (MMCs).Aluminium alloys are one of most widely used materials as matrix in MMCs, both in research and development as well as in industrial applications. In the present work, the influence of the ceramic reinforcement addition to a 2xxx series aluminium alloy is studied. Several percentages of TiCN have been added to the Al-Cu alloy using PM techniques, in order to analyze its influence on the liquid phase sintering process and on the final properties of the material.

The present work studies the influence of high-energy milling (HEM) and sintering cycle of Ti and Al powders on the obtainment of TiAl. This study shows that HEM modifies the diffusion processes during the sintering stage. The samples were obtained by cold uniaxial and isostatic pressing, pre-sintered at different temperatures, and heated up to the sintering temperature. This study also shows the effect of powder additions processed by HEM on the sintering behavior of elemental Ti and Al powders.

The development of Fe-based metal matrix composites (MMCs) with high content of hard phase has been approached by combining the use of advanced powder metallurgy techniques like high-energy milling (HEM), cold isostatic pressing (CIP) and vacuum sinterings. A 30% vol. of NbC particles was mixed with Fe powder by HEM in a planetary mill during 10h, characteristing the powder by the observation of morphology and microstructure by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). After of sintering process the variation of density, hardness,carbon content and the microstructural changes observed, permits to find the optimal conditions of processing. Afterwards, a heat treatment study was performed to study the hardenability of the composite.