Experimental studies on the effects of reinforcing cowpat ash with aluminium composites

Abstract

A brief study is attempted to identify the effects of cowpat ash (CPA) having single reinforcement and also a second reinforcement with titanium diboride (TiB2) in aluminium 7075 alloys through the liquid metallurgy technique. The microstructural and mechanical properties of the fabricated samples are evaluated and compared with the base material to identify the increase and decrease in properties of the composite materials. In the first stage, single reinforced composites (SRCs) with CPA were varied by 2, 4, 6 and 8 weight percentages. It was found that at 6% of CPA the properties have enhanced in the composite materials. In the second stage of the research, hybrid reinforced composites (HRC) were fabricated with 6% CPA which was kept constant and TiB2 were varied by 2, 4 and 6 weight percentages. Among the composition, it was found that at 6% CPA and 4% TiB2 the properties of aluminium 7075 have enhanced. Optical microstructure, SEM with EDAX and XRD for SRC and HRC exhibited uniform distribution of reinforcements and their existence in the matrix respectively. The density has reduced for both SRC and HRCs but porosity has increased with an increase in reinforcement percentage. Hardness has increased by 18.18% for SRC and 34.54% for HRC. Tensile strength has increased by 14.28% for SRC and 29.67% for HRC. The impact strength has gradually decreased by 31.25% for SRC and 43.75% for HRC. Flexural strength has increased by 7.54% for SRC and 15.09% for HRC. The fracture SEM images exhibited cracks, voids, and dimples for tensile and impact specimens for fabricated samples.