Study of manufacturing and material properties of the hybrid composites with metal matrix as tool materials

Abstract

Composite materials have many applications in industries and using these composites in deep drawing process is a new trend to obtain high quality drawn products. This study aims to prepare the hybrid Metal Matrix Composites (MMC's) iron-based reinforced with 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4% volume fraction of constant mix (80% Al2O3 and 20% ZrO2) by means of powder metallurgy and investigate the mechanical properties of these hybrid Composites. The powders were compacted at 640 MPa and sintered at 1120 °C in the presence of argon gas. The purity, density, average grain size and shape were measured by Dosimeter, particle size analyzer and SEM. The best mechanical properties were obtained at (97% Fe + 3% (80% Al2O3 + 20% ZrO2) among all reinforcement volume fractions and the composites has properties of 61%, 37% and 7% more than the matrix properties for compression strength, hardness HRC and radial crushing strength respectively.