Synthesis of functionally graded aluminium metal matrix composites - a mini review

Abstract

Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are materials with property gradients along a particular dimension. These are novel and advanced materials that are becoming excellent replacements for composites. Among the FGMs, functionally graded Aluminum metal matrix composites (FG AMMCs) are receiving tremendous attention as they possess versatile properties compared to their counterparts. Out of various synthesizing techniques, the Powder metallurgy (PM) route is the cheapest and easier method of fabricating functionally graded composites (FGCs). This review provides information about the Functionally graded Aluminium metal matrix composites and their synthesis through the PM route. The review analyses important properties including density, hardness, tensile and compressive strength. A study of the microstructure through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) of the synthesized FGMs is presented. The PM route could be conveniently exploited for large-scale production of FG AMMCs. There is scope for the characterization of FG AMMCs reinforced with B4C, TiO2, TiB2, TiC, CNT, and Few layered Graphene (FLG) as only a few studies are reported in the literature. The variation in mechanical and tribological properties of the FGMs could be investigated by varying the processing parameters of the ball milling, compacting, and sintering conditions.