Investigations on Mechanical Properties of Heat-treated Aluminum 7075/Graphite Powder/Bagasse ash Hybrid Metal Matrix Composites

Abstract

Metal Matrix Composites (MMC’s) consist of either pure metal or an alloy as the matrix material, while the reinforcement generally a ceramic material. Aluminium composites are considered as one of the advanced engineering materials which have attracted more and more benefits. Now a days these materials are widely used in space shuttle, commercial airlines, electronic substrates, bicycles, automobiles, etc., Among the MMC’s aluminium composites are predominant in use due to their low weight and high strength. The key features of MMC’s are specific strength and stiffness, excellent wear resistance, high electrical and thermal conductivity. Hence, it is proposed to form a new class of composite. Al 7075 alloy reinforced with Graphite Powder and Bagasse ash to form MMC using Stir casting. The MMC is obtained for different composition of Graphite powder and Bagasse ash particulates (varying Graphite powder with constant Bagasse ash and varying Bagasse ash with constant Graphite powder percentage). The test specimens are prepared as per ASTM standard size by turning and facing operations to conduct tensile tests, compression tests and hardness tests. The specimens are tested for tensile strength and compression strength as per ASTM standard E8 by using universal testing machine and hardness as per ASTM standard E10 at different loads by using Brinell hardness testing machine. Through the results, it is concluded that the MMC obtained has got better tensile strength, compression strength and hardness properties when compared to non-heat-treated Al 7075 alone.