Effect of Beryl Reinforcement in Aluminum 2024 on Mechanical Properties

Abstract

Aluminum MMC is being enormously used in automotive and aerospace applications because of their enhanced mechanical properties. Commonly used MMCs are alloys of aluminum, magnesium, titanium and iron. Particulate reinforcement of Al MMCs includes silicon carbide, boron carbide, tungsten carbide, graphite, etc. Aluminum MMCs reinforced with ceramics like neodymium, yttrium, cerium, Pr praseodymium, beryl, etc., are finding a lot of importance. In the current work, investigation of the mechanical properties of Al2024 with beryl as the reinforcement is being carried out. The composites were prepared by stir casting technique. Mechanical properties like tensile strength, hardness and toughness were determined. Microstructural studies and XRD analysis were carried out to check the uniform distribution of beryl particles and chemical composition of the MMC. The experiments were conducted for As-cast and annealed samples. The experimental results revealed that UTS and hardness increased with an increase in wt% of beryl particles up to 6%. But toughness increased with an increase in wt% of beryl particles up to 10% and remained constant. The annealed samples showed a decrease in UTS (18.7%) and hardness (1.8%). The microstructural studies revealed uniform distribution of beryl particles in the composites, and XRD analysis revealed the chemical composition of the MMC and the presence of beryl in composite. Experimental studies reveal that there is an enhancement of UTS by 10.7%, hardness by 11.1% and the toughness from 2 to 5.75 J/m3. The % elongation has decreased from 11 to 6% when wt% of beryl was varied from 0 to 14%.