In this thesis, novel bulk Al-based alloys with high content of Al have been produced by powder metallurgy methods from amorphous and partially amorphous materials. Different processing routes, i.e. mechanical alloying of elemental powder mixtures, controlled pulverization of melt-spun glassy ribbons and gas atomization, have been employed for the production of the Al-based powders. Among the different processing routes, gas atomization is the best choice for the production of Al-based amorphous and partially amorphous powders as precursors for the subsequent consolidation step because it allows the production of large quantities of powders with homogeneous properties (e.g. structure and thermal stability) along with a uniform size distribution of particles. Amorphous and nanocrystalline powders have to be consolidated to achieve dense bulk specimens. However, consolidation of these phases is not an easy task and special care has to be taken with respect to accurate control of the consolidation parameters in order to achieve dense bulk specimens without inducing undesirable microstructural transformations (e.g. crystallization and grain coarsening) or insufficient particle bonding. Consequently, the effect of temperature on viscosity as well as on phase formation has been studied in detail in order to select the proper consolidation parameters. Following their characterization, the Al-based powders have been consolidated into bulk specimens by hot pressing (HP), hot extrusion and spark plasma sintering (SPS) and their microstructure and mechanical properties have been extensively investigated. Consolidation into highly-dense bulk samples cannot be achieved without extended crystallization of the glassy precursors. Nevertheless, partial or full crystallization during consolidation leads to remarkable mechanical properties. For example, HP Al84Gd6Ni7Co3 samples display a remarkably high strength of about 1500 MPa, which is three times larger than the conventional high-strength Al-based alloys, along with a limited but distinct plastic deformability (3.5 – 4%). Lower strength (930 MPa) but remarkably larger plastic strain exceeding 25 % has been achieved for the Al87Ni8La5 gas-atomized powders consolidated by SPS above their crystallization temperature. Similarly, HP Al90.4Y4.4Ni4.3Co0.9 bulk samples display high compression strength ranging between 820 and 925 MPa combined with plastic strain in the range 14 – 30%. Finally, preliminary tensile tests for the Al90.4Y4.3Ni4.4Co0.9 alloy reveal promising tensile properties comparable to commercial high-strength Al-based alloys. The mechanical behavior of the consolidated specimens is strictly linked with their microstructure. High strength and reduced plasticity are observed when a residual amorphous phase is present. On the other hand, reduced strength but enhanced plastic deformation is a result of the complete crystallization of the glass and of the formation of a partially or fully interconnected network of deformable fcc Al. These results indicate that the combined devitrification and consolidation of glassy precursors is a particularly suitable method for the production of Al-based materials characterized by high strength combined with considerable plastic strain. Through this method, the mechanical properties of the consolidated samples can be varied within a wide range of strength and ductility depending on the microstructure and the consolidation techniques used. This might open a new route for the development of innovative high-performance Al-based materials for transport applications.

In this thesis, the effect of mechanical deformation on structure, thermal stability and hardness of a single-phase spray-deposited quasicrystalline alloy with composition Al62.5Cu25Fe12.5 has been investigated in detail. The purpose of the investigation was to study the effect of mechanical milling at different milling speeds (which approximately scale with the milling intensity) on mechanically-induced phase transformations during milling and on the phase evolution during subsequent heating. The results of the milling experiments indicate that, irrespective of the milling speeds used, mechanical milling of Al62.5Cu25Fe12.5 quasicrystals leads to the formation of a disordered CsCl-type ß phase with grain size of about 10 – 20 nm. The analysis of the kinetics of the QC–to–ß phase transformation reveals that the milling intensity has a considerable effect on the characteristics of the transformation. The increase of the milling speed considerably shortens the incubation time needed to start the QC–to–ß phase transformation. Also, the overall transformation is much faster for milling at high speeds. The QC–to–ß phase transformation starts when the grain size of the quasicrystals is reduced to about 10 nm irrespective of the milling speed used and clearly indicates that a critical grain size of the quasicrystals for initiating the transformation exists. On the other hand, no critical value of lattice strain was found for the QC–to–ß transformation. This indicates that the phase transformation is controlled by the local length scale (i.e. the grain size) and by the corresponding grain boundaries rather than by the energy stored in the lattice. Energetic considerations obtained through a simple model based on the mass and velocity of the milling balls reveal that the energy needed for the QC–to–ß transformation increases with increasing the milling speed, that is, the energetic efficiency of the process decreases with increasing the milling intensity. This indicates that part the extra energy supplied during milling at high intensities is not used to induce the phase transformation but it is dissipated by heat. During heating, the milled powder displays a multi-step thermal behavior characterized by the grain growth of the disordered ß phase at low temperatures, followed, at higher temperatures, by its transformation into the original icosahedral quasicrystalline phase. The transformation is gradual and the quasicrystals and the disordered ß phase coexist over a temperature interval of more than 250 K. The phase transformations occurring during milling and subsequent annealing have a remarkable effect on the hardness, which can be tuned within a wide range of values (7–9.6 GPa) as a function of the volume fraction of the different phases. This suggests that a composite material with optimized mechanical properties can be produced by an appropriate thermo-mechanical treatment. The quasicrystals milled at a very low speed show a transition between Hall-Petch to inverse Hall-Petch behavior at a grain size of about 40 nm, which represents the critical value for grain size softening of the present Al62.5Cu25Fe12.5 quasicrystals. This behavior may be attributed to the complexity of the quasicrystalline structure and to its peculiar deformation mechanism at room temperature (i.e. shear banding), where meta-dislocation-assisted deformation is almost absent. In order to analyze the effectiveness of the Al62.5Cu25Fe12.5 quasicrystals as reinforcing agent in metal matrix composites, Al-based composites were synthesized by hot extrusion of elemental Al blended with different amounts of Al62.5Cu25Fe12.5 quasicrystalline particles. The work was focused on two specific aspects: evaluation of the mechanical properties through room temperature compression tests and modeling of the resulting properties. The addition of the quasicrystalline reinforcement is very effective for improving the room temperature mechanical properties of pure Al. The compressive strength increases from 155 MPa for pure Al to 330 and 407 MPa for the composites with 20 and 40 vol.% of reinforcement, respectively, reaching an ultimate strain of 55 % and 20 % before fracture occurs. These results indicate that the addition of the QC reinforcement leads to composite materials with compressive strengths exceeding that of pure Al by a factor of 2 – 2.5, while retaining appreciable plastic deformation. The mechanical properties of the composites have been modeled by taking into account the combined effect of load bearing, dislocation strengthening and matrix ligament size effects. The calculations are in very good agreement with the experimental results and reveal that the reduction of the matrix ligament size, which results in a similar strengthening effect as that observed for grain refinement, is the main strengthening mechanism in the current composites. Finally, the interfacial reaction between the Al matrix and the QC reinforcement has been used to further enhance the strength of the composites through the formation of a new microstructure consisting of the Al matrix reinforced with Al7Cu2Fe w-phase particles. The optimization of the structure-property relationship was done through the systematic variation of the processing temperature during consolidation. The mechanical behavior of these transformation-strengthened composites is remarkably improved compared to the parent material. The yield strength of the composites significantly increases as the Al + QC -> ω transformation progresses from 195 MPa for the sample reinforced only with QC particles to 400 MPa for the material where the Al + QC -> ω reaction is complete. These results clearly demonstrate that powder metallurgy, i.e. powder synthesis by ball milling followed by consolidation into bulk specimens, is an attractive processing route for the production of novel and innovative lightweight composites characterized by high strength combined with considerable plastic deformation. In addition, these findings indicate that the mechanical behavior of Al-based composites reinforced with Al62.5Cu25Fe12.5 quasicrystalline particles can be tuned within a wide range of strength and plasticity depending on the volume fraction of the reinforcement as well as on the extent of the interfacial reaction between Al matrix and QC reinforcing particles.