Aluminium matrix composites (AMCs) reinforced
with ceramic particles have been much developed as
structural components in the automotive and aerospace
industries because of their excellent properties such as
high specific stiffness, high strength and high abrasion
resistance[1−3]. An inherent difficulty in the fabrication
of the AMCs is the poor wettability between the ceramic
particles and the Al matrix. It is well known that
intermetallics (IMs) can be wetted by molten metal easily.
Moreover, they exhibit comparable mechanical
properties and closer coefficient of thermal expansion
(CTE) with Al when compared to ceramic materials[4].
Therefore, IMs based on Ni-Al (mainly Ni3Al and NiAl)
and Ti-Al (mainly TiAl) systems have recently been
studied as a new family of reinforcements of AMCs
[5−7]. The stiffness and wear behavior of the AMCs can
be improved by the intermetallics addition.