Influence of Heat Treatment and Reinforcements on Tensile Characteristics of Aluminium AA 5083/Silicon Carbide/Fly Ash Composites.

Santhosh Nagaraja,Abdul Razak Kaladgi,Ramesha Kodandappa,Khalid Ansari,C. Ahamed Saleel,Navid Aslfattahi,Asif Afzal,Praveena Bindiganavile Anand,Mohamed Saheer Kuruniyan,Ashwin C. Gowda

doi:10.3390/ma14185261

Abstract

The effect of reinforcements and thermal exposure on the tensile properties of aluminium AA 5083–silicon carbide (SiC)–fly ash composites were studied in the present work. The specimens were fabricated with varying wt.% of fly ash and silicon carbide and subjected to T6 thermal cycle conditions to enhance the properties through “precipitation hardening”. The analyses of the microstructure and the elemental distribution were carried out using scanning electron microscopic (SEM) images and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The composite specimens thus subjected to thermal treatment exhibit uniform distribution of the reinforcements, and the energy dispersive spectrum exhibit the presence of Al, Si, Mg, O elements, along with the traces of few other elements. The effects of reinforcements and heat treatment on the tensile properties were investigated through a set of scientifically designed experimental trials. From the investigations, it is observed that the tensile and yield strength increases up to 160 °C, beyond which there is a slight reduction in the tensile and yield strength with an increase in temperature (i.e., 200 °C). Additionally, the % elongation of the composites decreases substantially with the inclusion of the reinforcements and thermal exposure, leading to an increase in stiffness and elastic modulus of the specimens. The improvement in the strength and elastic modulus of the composites is attributed to a number of factors, i.e., the diffusion mechanism, composition of the reinforcements, heat treatment temperatures, and grain refinement. Further, the optimisation studies and ANN modelling validated the experimental outcomes and provided the training models for the test data with the correlation coefficients for interpolating the results for different sets of parameters, thereby facilitating the fabrication of hybrid composite components for various automotive and aerospace applications.

Highlights

The investigation on the necessity for materials for explicit applications to support the interaction capacities has assisted the examination of the most recent advancements for the evolution of composites
Aluminium AA 5083 alloys in billet form were procured from Perfect Metal Corporation, Bengaluru, Karnataka State, India, alongside SiC of an average size of 35 to 70 microns procured from Snam abrasives, Bengaluru, Karnataka State, India, and C-type, and fly ash procured from Karnataka Power Corporation, Raichur, Karnataka State, India, which were used as reinforcements
The investigations carried out by Chen et al [41] on the influence of heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of TiB2 reinforced Al 2024 composites provided a fundamental basis for the thermal exposure of the composites, and the results reveal that the addition of TiB2 results in significant grain refinement with the random orientation of θ-Al2 Cu phases

Summary

Introduction

The investigation on the necessity for materials for explicit applications to support the interaction capacities has assisted the examination of the most recent advancements for the evolution of composites. Aluminium composites are used profusely in aircraft owing to the higher strength-to-weight ratio, especially with regard to tensile and yield strength, along with the corrosion resistance characteristics [1,2]. These composites have the ability to deal with high temperatures, especially for high-speed flight conditions. The aluminium alloys have incredible attributes concerning castability, corrosion resistance, and high strength characteristics [6,7,8]. Aluminium oxide particles are commonly used as a sandblasting media, in dentistry, for multiple purposes, including divesting the casting investment materials and increasing effective surface area for enhancing the mechanical retention strengths of succeeding applied fired porcelain or luting cements

Methods

Results

Conclusion