Study of Surface Quality During End Milling of SiC Reinforced Aluminium Metal Matrix Composite

Abstract

In today’s world the composites materials are replacing many conventional materials due to their excellent properties. Aluminum is a less weight and cheap metal that is available in plenty. Silicon carbide is hard abrasive material with good mechanical properties. The aluminum silicon carbide metal matrix composite is finding increased applications in many fields such as automobile and aeronautical applications due to its excellent mechanical properties like high strength, light weight, high specific stiffness and good coefficient of thermal expansion. But their usage is restricted due to the difficulty in the machinability. In this paper two Al/SiC metal matrix composites (Al6061/10-SiCp and Al6061/5-SiCp) by varying the composition of SiC. The composites consist Silicon Carbide (SiC) of 5% and 10% by weight. The composites are prepared by stir casting process. Shell moulding technique is used in manufacturing of the composite materials. The microstructure, tensile strength, compression strength and hardness of the composites are studied. End milling operation is performed on the metal matrix composite slabs by varying the machining parameters. Feed rate and depth of cut were varied by fixing a single spindle speed. The number of experiments is determined using design of experiments (DOE). The effect of the machining parameters on the surface finish is observed by measuring the surface roughness. This process is done on the two metal matrix composites. The effect of SiC percentage in composite and variations in machining parameters on the surface finish was observed.