Effect of additive type and amount on structural and mechanical properties of ZrO2/B4C/Al2O3/SiC added Al 1050 based composite structures produced by vacuum infiltration—Comparative study

Abstract

With this experimental study, ZrO2/B4C/Al2O3/SiC ceramics in different weight ratios were added to 99.5% pure aluminum and composites were produced by vacuum infiltration, which is very rare in the literature. It is aimed to investigate how different ceramics will affect the technical properties of an aluminum composite. First, scanning electron microscope images were taken to examine their microstructures, and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy analyses were performed. In addition, x-ray diffraction analyses of phase structures were performed. Then, the densities of the composite structures were measured. In the last stage of the experiments, hardness measurement, bending strength, and abrasive wear amount tests were carried out to determine the mechanical properties of the composite structures. According to the data obtained, a relatively homogeneous structure was obtained up to 10% of the ceramic particles in the structure. It was observed that thermal damage did not occur in the composite structures and no significant phase changes occurred. The highest infiltration distance was obtained from B4C-reinforced samples, and the lowest infiltration distances were obtained from ZrO2-reinforced samples. Ceramic reinforcement elements have reduced the density values of composite structures. With the increase in the ratio of ceramic reinforcement particles, the hardness values of the composites increased and the flexural strength values decreased. In the abrasive wear tests, the least wear loss was obtained from SiC-reinforced samples and the highest wear loss was obtained from ZrO2-reinforced samples. When the composites were evaluated according to their microstructure and mechanical strength, the best results were obtained with SiC and then Al2O3, B4C, and ZrO2 reinforcements, respectively. It has been concluded that SiC, Al2O3, B4C, and ZrO2 reinforcement elements in Al 1050-based composites produced by vacuum infiltration have a positive effect on most of the mechanical properties and a negative effect on some of them.