Fabrication Of Metal Matrix Composites Research Articles

Application of metal matrix composite fabricated by reinforcement materials – A review

Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) are recently developed fabricated materials with characteristics like reduced thermal expansion coefficient, enhanced specific strength, improved wear resistance, and light in weight. They contain feature such as low density, good strength-to-weight ratio, lightweight, low cost, excellent quality, and high performance. Among others, Aluminium (Al) and Al alloy based MMCs are employed in a variety of industrial applications. The characteristics of the composite are greatly influenced by the Al-based MMC fabrication processes. The manufacturing processes for reinforced composites as well as contemporary fabrication techniques are reviewed in present article. The impact of various process factors on the characteristics of aluminium based MMC has also been discussed. Various techniques such as powder metallurgy, stir casting, hand lapping etc. are utilized for the fabrication of composites. The primary objective of the present work is to review different fabrication methods of Al MMCs along with their features. This article also deals with changes occur in mechanical and physical properties with fabrication methods. The effects of the addition of different reinforcement have also been discussed in the present work. Investigation of mechanical and microstructure properties have also done in this paper. The main purpose of this review is to find effect of fabrications process on different properties of fabricated material as well as finding of suitable method of fabrication.

Latest Developments to Manufacture Metal Matrix Composites and Functionally Graded Materials through AM: A State-of-the-Art Review.

Multi-material structure fabrication has the potential to address some critical challenges in today's industrial paradigm. While conventional manufacturing processes cannot deliver multi-material structures in a single operation, additive manufacturing (AM) has come up as an appealing alternative. In particular, laser-directed energy deposition (L-DED) is preferred for multi-material AM. The most relevant applications envisioned for multi-material L-DED are alloy design, metal matrix composites (MMC), and functionally graded materials (FGM). Nonetheless, there are still some issues that need to be faced before multi-material L-DED is ready for industrial use. Driven by this need, in this literature review, the suitability of L-DED for multi-material component fabrication is first demonstrated. Then, the main defects associated with multi-material L-DED and current opportunities and challenges in the field are reported. In view of the industrial relevance of high-performance coatings as tools to mitigate wear, emphasis is placed on the development of MMCs and FGMs. The identified challenges include-but are not limited to-tightly controlling the composition of the multi-material powder mixture injected into the melt pool; understanding the influence of the thermal history of the process on microstructural aspects, including the interactions between constituents; and studying the in-service behaviours of MMCs and FGMs with regard to their durability and failure modes.

Novel solid-state metal powder surface modification process for additive manufacturing of metal matrix composites and alloys

Although metal additive manufacturing has been widely studied owing to its flexible product shape design, the material selection window for metal additive manufacturing remains narrow owing to limited feedstocks. To address the challenges in additive manufacturing, an innovative metal powder fabrication process was developed in this study. This process is known as surface modification and reinforcement transplantation (SMART), and it efficiently produces surface-modified feedstock powders, such as spheroidized, surface-alloyed, surface-coated, or composite powders, which facilitate the exploration of new alloys and composites via additive manufacturing. In this study, the working principles of the SMART process were established, and some practical applications of the SMART process were considered by fabricating specialized metal additive manufacturing feedstocks such as carbon nanotube-coated, Mo alloyed, and TiC particle-reinforced Inconel 625 powders. Furthermore, Mo-alloyed and TiC particle-reinforced powders were utilized in the directed energy deposition process to validate the performance of the SMART powder by fabricating Mo-controlled alloy and TiC particle-reinforced composites. The SMART process was compared with the existing processes and proved to be advantageous. Therefore, this study provides a novel method for producing feedstock powders for additive manufacturing.

Applicability of Industrial Wastes in Metal Matrix Composites Production – A Review

The review study is to investigate the possibility of utilizing industrial waste materials as a strengthening component in the manufacturing of metal-matrix composites (MMCs) and assess the associated environmental benefits. The study focused on examining two distinct sets of waste materials: metal matrix composites that were reinforced with fly ash, and composites produced from different kinds of industrial waste materials. Technical and property-related data were reviewed to evaluate the potential of these waste materials in MMC production. The study results indicated that fly ash-reinforced metal-matrix composites exhibited exceptional physical and mechanical properties, which make them well-suited for various applications, particularly in the automotive sector. The research highlights the necessity for further studies to innovate advanced materials with improved properties while mitigating environmental pollution. Overall, the research demonstrates the potential of utilizing industrial waste materials as reinforcement in MMC production and underscores the importance of this approach for the future development of advanced materials.

A review on reinforcement strategies of friction stir processing to fabricate metal matrix composites

A review on reinforcement strategies of friction stir processing to fabricate metal matrix composites

Microstructure, grain and nanowire growth during selective laser melting of Ag-Cu/diamond composites.

Selective laser melting (SLM) technique is a viable alternative to fabricating metal matrix composites (MMCs) with controllable structures; however, its implementation remains challenging because of the unpredicted defects arising from the reinforcement. This study primarily examined the microstructural evolution and grain growth in the Ag-Cu/diamond composites at the molten pool scale during the SLM process via a thermodynamic analysis. The feasibility of manufacturing Ag-Cu/diamond composites was verified using several processing parameters. Moreover, the influence of energy density on the microstructures and grain growth was also demonstrated theoretically and experimentally. The formation of different kinds of grain morphologies in the molten pool was ascribed to the temperature gradient and cooling rate, corresponding to the direction and size of grain growth. The generation of Ag-Cu nanowires at the grain boundaries was firstly found in the SLM technique, which was related to the pressure stress generated by the high cooling rate of SLM. This work hopefully opens new paths for the applications of high-performance Ag-Cu/diamond MMCs in various application fields. It also provides new possibilities for the controllable manufacturing of Ag nanowires during SLM.

Characteristics of Al6061-SiC-Al2O3 Surface Hybrid Composites Fabricated by Friction Stir Processing

Friction stir processing (FSP) has successfully evolved as an alternative technique of fabricating metal matrix composites. (MMC). FSP has been used positively to produce surface composite that offer good surface properties such as higher hardness and wear resistance, also help in the development of finer-grain structure during thermomechanical processing of the material. This work aims to fabricate a surface composite upon the AA6061-T6 Al alloy via FSP. The effect of SiC and/or Al2O3 particles on microstructure, microhardness, and wear behavior of the surface composite was investigated. Many drilled holes were made to incorporate the ceramic particles within the matrix at the optimal friction stir processing circumstances, The optimal parameters of (FSP) were (32 mm ̸min), (1250 rpm), and (2) passes in a similar track.. It was obtained that the maximum microhardness being in the stir zone center of FSP of the base alloy and all composites. The results of XRD and EDX mapping confirmed the incorporation of SiC and Al2O3 particles within the surface of Al alloy using FSP which will improve the surface properties. The improvement in microhardness was (89.3%) in the case of FSP composite sample reinforced with hybrid addition (SiC+Al2O3) particles in comparison to FSP unreinforced base alloy (75 HV). It was showed that the wear resistance of the FSP composite sample reinforced with hybrid addition of (Al2O3 and SiC ) particles was slightly better than that of the FSP composite sample reinforced with single Al2O3 or SiC particles and base Al alloy.

Experimental investigation of material properties of Al-Sic-fly ash composite

Abstract Composite materials are granted first choice in the present manufacturing scenario due to their compatibility with tolerances up to 0.001 mm and lower weight. The research design works on the composites of the metal matrix, which are used primarily for aeronautical and industrial applications. Metal matrix composites are being used extensively in structural engineering. Silicon carbide and fly shell ash were used as compliance in aluminium alloys for the manufacture of metal matrix composites (LM13). The composite metal matrix is created employing Stir Casting method. When compared to open moulding, closed moulding, and cast polymer moulding, it is a less expensive and more effective method. The composites produced were then examined for mechanical properties, from the results it was found that the presence of ash and ceramic grains can adversely impact the properties of the composites and even make them brittle. It is time to change the mechanical properties of aluminium by creating hybrid composites with double and often triple-reinforced sections. Hybrid composites have greater performance, better tolerance to tear, low density, resistance to corrosion and strong rigidity over metal matrix composites. In this research an Al-Sic-fly ash composite is proposed and the mechanical properties of hardness, tensile strength, corrosion strength, micro structure analysis are investigated.

Mechanical and Wear Properties of Al/TiC Composites Fabricated via Combined Compo-Casting and APB Process

One of the popular techniques to fabricate metal matrix composites is the compo-casting process. The un-uniform spreading of reinforced subdivisions (particles) inside the metallic matrix and the lack of desirable mechanical properties of the final produced composites due to the low bonding strength among the metal matrix and reinforcement particles are the main challenges in this process. The warm accumulative press bonding (APB) technique was utilized as the supplementary technique to improve the mechanical and microstructural evolution of casted Al/TiC composite bars to remove these difficulties. So, using the tensile test, average Vickers micro hardness test, wear test and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of these composites have been considered vs. various WAPB steps. The SEM morphology of samples revealed that big titanium carbide clusters are broken and make a uniform distribution of titanium carbide particles at higher APB steps. It was shown that the cumulative forming steps of the APB process improved the mechanical properties of composites. In general, combining the compo-casting and APB process would result in making Al/TiC composites with high uniformity and good mechanical and microstructural properties.

Novel metal matrix composites reinforced with Zr-based metallic glass lattices

Although various methods have been developed to manufacture metal matrix composites (MMCs), most of the currently employed methods use discontinued crystalline ceramic particles as reinforcements. Herein, we report a new approach of reinforcing metals using a three-dimensional metallic glass (MG) lattice. Specifically, the processing route involves additive manufacturing of a stainless-steel matrix scaffold containing a continuous lattice-structured cavity and subsequent high-pressure injection of a Zr-based glass-forming liquid into the scaffold. Our results demonstrate that the as-produced composites reinforced with 30 vol% MG in the form of a body-centered-cubic lattice possess excellent mechanical properties. Remarkably, the plasticity is higher than those of some particle-reinforced stainless-steel composites and most conventional ex situ MG matrix composites. The enhanced performances mainly arise from the well-designed structure, good combination of the hard MG and soft stainless steel, and their mutual reinforcement mechanism. This study not only reveals a new class of composites reinforced with lattice-structured MG that overcome the limitation of MG reinforcement, rendering it suitable for reinforcing high-melting-point materials, but also provides a novel design concept and fabrication approach that could be extended to other alloy systems for achieving improved mechanical properties.

Development of a low cost portable aluminium melting furnace for laboratory use

A lot of research is going on metal matrix composites. Many permutations and combinations are made in the fabrication of MMCs (Metal Matrix Composites). The variations are made in the type of base metal and reinforcement, the percentage of reinforcement in the matrix, the form of reinforcement like powder, fibre, flakes, the type of fabrication like stir casting, squeeze casting etc. Then the mechanical properties, along with microstructures are tested for desired applications. Casting plays an important role in the fabrication of MMC. Here melting of metals, alloys in small quantity for experimental purpose is needed. Therefore a portable, low cost aluminium or any other metal/alloy having melting temperature in the range of 600–750 °C is developed in this research work. Infrared heater is used to melt aluminium in graphite crucible. The melting electricity cost for this infrared furnace (IR Furnace) for melting 250 gm of aluminium in 55 min is estimated as Rs. 13.50. The furnace is fabricated using standard parts instead of going for manufacturing special parts, which considerably reduced the cost of furnace and estimated Rs. 15080/-

Direct energy deposition of SiC reinforced Ti–6Al–4V metal matrix composites: Structure and mechanical properties

The creation of metal matrix composites (MMCs) is an important strategy for obtaining heat-resistant products. Metal matrix composites provide superior characteristics of improved mechanical, high-temperature and tribological properties. Manufacturing of MMCs by the methods of additive technologies contributes to the development of technical industries. In this paper, the formation of the structure, phase composition and mechanical properties of Ti–6Al–4V/SiC MMCs got by direct energy deposition were investigated. The compositions with 1 vol%, 3 vol%, 5 vol%, 7 vol% SiC are considered. The structure consists of SiC particles surrounded by a matrix of titanium martensite. However, during deposition, the matrix interacts with SiC particles to form TiC and Ti5Si3. Increasing the amount of ceramic content leads to a reduction of grains, which is associated with the formation of TiC at the grain boundaries. As the SiC content increases, the hardness increases because of an increase in the solid phases TiC and Ti5Si3, but these phases weaken the DED samples. The addition of 1 vol% SiC significantly increases the strength of the titanium alloy up to 1300 MPa with a relative elongation of 2.1%.

Rice Husk Ash as Pore Former and Reinforcement on the Porosity, Microstructure, and Tensile Strength of Aluminum MMC Fabricated via the Powder Metallurgy Method

The handling of rice husk ash (RHA) has been raising environmental concerns, which led to the consideration of incorporating RHA in aluminum metal matrix composite fabrication. Due to the high silicon dioxide content of RHA, it can assist in enhancing both the properties and functionality of pure aluminum. In this research, the fabrication of aluminum metal matrix composite was carried out by utilizing different compositions of RHA, including weight fractions of 10 wt.%, 15 wt.%, and 20 wt.% via a powder metallurgy approach. The element powders, including aluminum and RHA, and magnesium stearate as a binder, were mixed, compacted, and sintered to attain a composite sample in the form of a pellet. The pellet was then characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM-EDX) to identify the pore structure and size for each RHA composition. The samples were also mechanically tested via Archimedes’ Principle and Brazilian Testing to identify their density, porosity, and tensile strength, respectively. The total porosity of RHA-15 wt.% was found to be the highest at 19.19%, yet with the highest tensile strength at 5.19 MPa due to its low open porosity at 4.65%. In contrast, the total porosity of RHA-20 wt.% was found to be slightly lower at 15.38%, with the highest open porosity at 6.95%, which reduced its tensile strength to 5.10 MPa, therefore indicating that reducing open porosity through controlling the composition of reinforcement tends to enhance the mechanical strength of aluminum metal matrix composites.

Experimental investigation on mechanical properties of AA7068/marble dust/fly ash hybrid composite processed by stir casting technique

Aluminum alloys have wide applications in serval industrial sectors like aerospace, automobile and manufacturing industries. Aluminum reinforced with industrial wastes manufactured through stir casting technique showed potential industrial applications. These hybrid aluminum metal matrix composites are light in weight compared to their counterparts. However, stir casting process parameters effects the mechanical properties of the stir casted aluminum hybrid composites. Hence, there is a need for research to find the optimal stir casting process parameters. The current work focusses on experimental investigation of stir casting technique to find the effect of the process parameters on the uniform distribution of reinforced marble dust and fly ash particulates and mechanical properties such as the tensile strength and the hardness. The various parameters considered in this work especially stirring speed (300, 350, 400) rpm, stirring time (3, 5, and 7) min, stirring temperature (750 °C, 800 °C, and 850 °C) and percentage of reinforcement (3%, 5% and 7%). The mathematical and statistical approach of Response Surface Method (RSM) is used to optimize the stir casting parameters in addition to study interaction effects of process parameters by using response surface and interaction plots. Fabricated metal matrix composites have been characterized by using a Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), inorder to examine the particle dispersion in the aluminium matrix. The significance of statistical results was evaluated with the analysis of variance (ANOVA) based on P-values and coefficients of corelation (R2). Results indicate that the best values for tensile strength and hardness is achieved at processing conditions of stirring at 900 °C with stirrer speed of 407.56 rpm and the stirring time 7.46 min. The 8.11% reinforcement has the highest tensile strength and hardness values of 347.84 MPa and 153.70 Hv, respectively, with composite desirability of 0.96.

Carrying Gas Influence and Fabrication Parameters Impact in 3D Manufacturing of In Situ TiN-Ti Composites by Direct Laser Deposition

The difficulty of getting a correct distribution of the reinforcement in the metal matrix and the complexity for achieving a good-metallurgy matrix-reinforcement bonding has limited the development of additive manufacturing of metal matrix composites. This research proposes the use of a reactive atmosphere during the fabrication process to obtain titanium matrix composites reinforced with TiN. The relation between the carrying gas and the process parameters used with the presence of porous and defects, the microstructure, and microhardness has been obtained. Nitrogen was used as the carrying gas of the titanium powder. Under laser irradiation, the particles melt and react with nitrogen, resulting in the formation of a titanium matrix composite highly reinforced with TiN. The composite obtained had a microhardness increase between 50 and 100% in comparison with titanium samples fabricated in the same conditions in an argon atmosphere. Three reaction mechanisms have been proposed to take place in the microstructure, depending on the amount of nitrogen in the titanium particles, and its diffusion in them during the manufacture.Graphic abstract

Aluminium Metal Matrix Composite Reinforced With Carbon Nanotubes / Graphene – A Review

This paper includes a comprehensive review of composites filed with aluminium metal matrix. The literature study includes all aspects of the preparation methods, mechanical properties, tribological properties, erosion properties and thermal properties of corrosion and cavitation. Recent years, owing to the huge demand in various industrial applications, aluminium graphene/CNT nano-composites was gaining greater momentum. The Fabrication of metal matrix composites, strengthening mechanisms in metal matrix composites, mechanical behavior of all composites and evaluation of mechanical properties were discussed below in detail. In fact these newly developed materials have high strength, high stiffness and high hardness, whereas these materials are difficult to be machined by conventional machining processes. Keywords: Aluminium, MMC, Carbon Nanotubes, Graphene, Fabrication.

Effect of Magnesium Powder Application on the Microstructure and Properties of Rods Extruded by the Forward-Backward Rotating Die Extrusion Method.

The effects of severe plastic deformation (SPD) with a forward-backward rotating die (KOBO extrusion) on pure magnesium, in the form of cold-compacted powder, sintered powder, or cast ingots as reference, were examined. This method is known to reinforce metals, but the role of the initial form of magnesium applied in the fabrication of metal-based rods, as well as related phenomena, has not been characterized until now. The problem is important in the potential processing of commercial metal powders, the recycling of metal shavings, and the fabrication of metal matrix composites with discontinuous reinforcing phases. In the presented experiments, rods of 8 mm in diameter and 400 mm in length were obtained, and the structural effects induced by KOBO that occurred on a macro- and microscale on the surface and cross sections were characterized. Changes in the size and orientation of α-Mg crystallites were determined by XRD. The porosity, hardness, tensile strength, and compressive strength were measured, and the mechanisms of decohesion dependent on starting metal form were analyzed. After KOBO extrusion, significant differences were observed in the microstructure and properties between the materials derived from cold-compacted powder, sintered powder, and reference cast magnesium. Due to the application of KOBO, apart from α-Mg grain refinement, the MgO derived from the initial powder’s surface was refined to fine regular particles surrounded by magnesium. Their bands curved in the perpendicular plane and were oriented with the extrusion direction of the formed network, which augmented some mechanical properties and changed the decohesion mechanism. The conducted experiments revealed that before extrusion by KOBO, the magnesium powder required sintering under pressure.

Dispersion of reinforcing micro-particles in the powder bed fusion additive manufacturing of metal matrix composites

Understanding the complex multi-phase interactions are vital for defects reduction in additive manufacturing (AM) of metal matrix composites. In this study, we propose a high-fidelity model to reveal the dynamics of molten pool and reinforcing solid particles during the AM process, using the resolved Computational Fluid Dynamics and Discrete Element Method (CFD-DEM) with bi-directional momentum and energy exchange. Our model is validated against the electron beam melting (EBM) experiments of tungsten-copper composites fabricated with elemental powder blends. The results demonstrate that the interface effect, including the dynamic wetting phenomena and Laplace pressure, play significant roles in the dynamics of reinforcing solid particles. On the other hand, the existence of reinforcing solid particles in the molten pool changes the molten pool size and alters the flow field during the melting process. Although the interface effect causes tungsten particle agglomeration at single track surface, the layer-wise deposition scheme with proper layer thickness eliminates the cluster and promotes the uniform tungsten distribution in the densified bulk sample, which shows the capability of AM to achieve spontaneous dispersion of reinforcing solid particles in the metal matrix. This work provides unprecedented details about the multi-phase dynamics in metal matrix composite AM process.

Manufacturing of Ceramic Reinforced Metal Matrix Composites (Al/Sicp) And Their Characterization Through Powder Metallurgy Methods

Metal Matrix Composites is two or more combination material with aluminum metal as matrix and devolved to fix metal act, strength, high temperature stability and hardness. Metal matrix composites have been developed so many because it has low density, corrosion proof, cheap and easy fabrication. Powder metallurgy technique is one of metal matrix composites fabrication process in solid state that is still developed because more economic, doesn't need difficult equipment. Aluminum that use in this research is Al alloy type 2124. Metal matrix composites fabrication process with powder metallurgy method using wet mixing with pure ethanol, cold compaction 300 MPa and inert gas atmospheric using Nitrogen gas (N2) at sintering process. Variation of sinter temperature that used is 450, 500, 550, and 600 oC with highly temperature average 5 oC/min and holding time for 1 hour and with speed flow Nitrogen gas (N2) 5 lt/min with pressure 1000 kgf/cm2. From research result can be concluded the mechanical properties and physical properties from metal matrix composites reinforced ceramics Al/SiCp increase with sinter temperature highly and with reinforcement particle addition SiC can increase mechanical properties and physical properties such as: hardness, wear resistance, coefficient of thermal expansion and corrosion resistance. From microstructure analysis, particle Sic distributed homogeneously at test specimen based on SEM analysis, and structure crystal analysis test result XRD show that dominant phase appear is Al, and Sic.

Investigation of solid particle erosion behavior of Al-Al2O3 and Al-ZrO2 metal matrix composites fabricated through powder metallurgy technique

The proposed research article presents an experimental investigation of solid particle erosion wear of Al2O3 and ZrO2 ceramic oxide reinforced metal matrix composite developed via powder metallurgy method. Two different kinds of metal matrix composites, Al-Al2O3 and Al-ZrO2 were developed with different proportions (0, 2.5, 5 and 10 wt%) of micro-sized ceramic oxide reinforcement powders. Vickers Hardness (HV), experimental densities of sintered samples, XRD and EDS were evaluated for mechanical characterization of fabricated metal matrix composites. Solid particle erosion wear tests were carried out at impingement angles 30–90° at varying set impact velocities of 30–90 m/s on air-jet erosion wear test rig using tiny micro-sized Al2O3 powders as an erodent. Air–jet erosion experiments were conducted as per the G76 standard for study of the steady-state erosion wear. ANOVA test revealed that wt% of reinforced contents was a significant parameter followed by impact velocity. 5 wt% of ZrO2 was observed to be the best wt% of reinforcement of all the combination of fabricated composites.