Effect of Varying Percentage Increase in Reinforcement on Some Mechanical Properties of Die Cast Aluminum Alloy Composites

Abstract

The die-casting process is a metal casting processes that utilize metal molds or permanent dies. In this work, the effect of varying percentage increase in reinforcement on some mechanical properties of aluminum alloy composites was obtained by the die cast process. The process was applied to produce various casts using aluminum alloy as the metal matrix and sawdust as the reinforcement at 5%, 10% and 15% by weight. Aluminum Scrap was sourced and sent for elemental characterization at Engineering Materials Development Institute (EMDI), Akure Nigeria. Tensile and hardness test were the mechanical tests carried out on the different samples of the cast. The elemental characterization test result showed that, the composition of the aluminum alloy used is Al-8.1%Mg-0.4%Fe-0.2%Zn. Results showed that at 10% by weight of reinforcement, the average tensile strength of the composite had the highest value while the lowest tensile strength was recorded at 15% by weight of reinforcement. At 15% by weight of reinforcement, the average hardness of the composite had the highest value while the lowest hardness was recorded at 5% by weight of reinforcement. Results were compared with the works of Ranjit et al. (2020) and Belete et al. (2013) and it was concluded that the results obtained from this work are adequate and significant for use.