Improvement of wear-resistant and thermal conductivity of aluminum matrix composite reinforced AL2O3/SiCw/Mg powder

Abstract

Technological progress demands the development of materials that have special characteristics such as high strength, stiffness, light weight, and good thermal conductivity at a low price. The development of hybrid metal matrix composites is the most important field in advanced materials science engineering. This research determines about aluminum matrix composites (AMC) reinforced with alumina (Al2O3), Silicon carbide whisker (SiCw), and magnesium (Mg) addition. The matrix is made of 90 % pure aluminum powder, and commercially available reinforcing materials include Al2O3, SiCw, and Mg. Objectives include variation of reinforcement fraction and matrix, sintering holding temperature and time. The selection of the sample making process using powder technology followed by the sintering process at different temperatures namely 350, 450 and 550 °C with variations in holding time of 1, 2 and 3 hours. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of variations in the fraction of reinforcement and sintering treatment on the properties of wear resistance, hardness and thermal conductivity of aluminum matrix composites. The results showed that the composition ratio of reinforcement to aluminum in sintering treatment significantly affected the mechanical properties. The wear resistance of the material shows excellent performance, namely wear resistance of 0.000065 gr/s, hardness of 45.234 VHN and thermal conductivity of 184.855 Watt/m °C, at a reinforcement composition combination of 10 %AL2O3, 10 %SiCw and 20 %Mg and a sintering temperature of 550 °C. This indicates that the Aluminum matrix composite reinforced with Al2O3/(SiCw/Mg) is able to support the friction load due to its low wear rate, good hardness, and good thermal conductivity. This material is very suitable to be used as tribology material, brake element, especially brake drum