Fabrication and characterization of Aluminum 6101-Selenium/boron carbide /carbon nanotubes metal matrix nano composites

Abstract

Rapid improvements in industries necessitate the development of novel materials with specific qualities. Properties like hardness, wear resistance, flexural strength, corrosion resistance are the most required properties for the metals used in marine applications, automobile applications, aero space industry etc. Aluminum metal matrix composites (AMMCs) are good-looking materials which meets industry requirements. The main objective of this paper is development of material which possess most required properties using stir casting method for making the parts under EDM to use in different applications like marine, aerospace and automobile applications. In this work, Al6101 is taken as matrix material, boron carbide (B4C) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) are used as reinforcement materials with fixed weight ratio of 0.7% and 0.15% respectively along with Selenium (Se) as compound material with 0.7% weight ratio. Further, Al6101-Se/ B4C /CNT composite samples (S1, S2, S3, S4, S5) are fabricated with five different combinations of reinforcement materials using stir casting process. Further, characteristics viz. hardness, corrosion resistance, wear resistance, flexural strength, and electrical conductivity are investigated and the results showed that the inclusion of reinforcements B4C/CNT along with Se improves the properties.