Study on the Hot Workability of SiCp/Al Composites Based on a Critical Strain Map

We used the isothermal compression test (conducted in a Gleeble-3500 system) to study the hot deformation behaviors of SiCp/Al composites over a wide range of temperatures (623-773 K) and strain rates (0.001-10 s⁻¹). A 3D hot-processing map was constructed based on the Malas stability criteria and experimental data. An artificial neural network model of four hot work quality characteristic parameters (strain rate sensitivity m, its derivative m′, temperature sensitivity s, and its derivative s′) were established. A new hot-processing map, known as a hot-processing critical strain map, has been proposed based on the smallest strain prior to instability. Two optimized processing regions at 623-660 K, 0.05-0.075 s⁻¹ and 720-773 K, 0.04-0.18 s⁻¹ were determined based on this map.