Development and characterization of aluminium silicon carbide composite materials with improved properties

Abstract

In the recent years Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) have proved great application potential in the field of aerospace and automotive industries due to their superior strength to weight quantitative relation and resistance to high temperature. Due to high manufacturing cost of the particulate metal matrix composites component and several technical challenges associated with casting technology, its widespread application for engineering purpose is restricted. The main aim of the present study is to cast and evaluate properties of the composite by increasing the stirring time and limiting the weight percentage of reinforcement. In this study, Aluminium (Al) is used as the pure matrix material and Silicon carbide (SiC) is used as the reinforcement material for the stabilization of the matrix. Stir casting is used to make aluminium matrix composites (AMC) by varying SiC content (0 to 5% wt. %) with the help of four blade motor stirrers rotating at a speed of 550 rpm for 20 min. A detailed study of mechanical and micro structural properties of Al-SiC composites is performed using Scanning Electron Microscopy for the characterization of the composite properties. The results indicated that the mechanical properties of the composite have been improved considerably with the addition of SiC in Al matrix. It was also observed that SiC was uniformly distributed over Al matrix due to continuous stirring in the mould and presence of few clustering was revealed in Micro structural observation.