Investigation of tensile strength, hardness and wear of titanium diboride reinforced AA6061 composite

Abstract

This paper studies the mechanical properties of AA6061 matrix composite material reinforced with Titanium diboride particulates. Hot compaction method was employed to produce three composites having 2%, 4% and 6% weight composition of the reinforcement particulates. The resulting composites were tested for tensile strength, hardness and wear. The properties were compared with a base material having the matrix element only. The composite material having 4% composition of the reinforcement particulates developed increase in tensile strength by 0.5%, hardness by 19.3% and reduces wear by 53.9% respectively in comparison with the base material may improve driver shaft life. All the composite materials exhibited improved properties compared to the base material. The changes in the mechanical properties were proportional to the composition of the reinforcement particles in the composite. It is concluded that the mechanical properties of composite materials improve by adding up to 4 wt% of Titanium diboride particulates as the reinforcement particles.