Alcan International Limited

Xiao-Guang Chen

Jean-Yves Fortin

Don Allen Doutre

Paul Brisson

Jacques Sheehy

Uta Harnisch

Camil Jean

A cast composite material is prepared by furnishing an aluminum-based matrix alloy and forming a mixture of free-flowing boron carbide particles and the aluminum-based matrix alloy in molten form which is stirred to wet the matrix alloy to the boron carbide particles and to distribute the particles throughout the volume of the melt. The molten mixture is then cast. The fluidity of the molten mixture is maintained by (a) maintaining the magnesium content of the matrix metal below about 0.2% by weight, or (b) starting with a matrix metal containing less than 0.2% by weight magnesium and adding further magnesium to the mixture a short time before casting, or (c) having at least 0.2% by weight titanium present in the mixture.

Aluminum alloy-boron carbide composite material

A method is described for reclaiming an Al&#x2014;BC composite scrap material. The method involves heating a liquid pool of molten aluminum while also pre-heating the scrap material. The scrap material is then added to the molten aluminum and a predetermined melt temperature is maintained in the liquid pool until all of the scrap material melts into the molten aluminum to form a resultant composite melt. Finally, the resultant composite melt is stirred to promote uniformity. A method is also described for preparing a BC-containing aluminum cast composite products that involves preparing a mixture of free-flowing BC particles and molten aluminum and stirring the mixture to wet the aluminum to the BC particles. The mixture is then cast into a cast composite material and processed to form the cast composite product and Al&#x2014;BC composite scrap material. The scrap material is then reclaimed by the method described above.

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Jonquiere, Canada

Xiao-Guang Chen