Reinforced Aluminum Alloy Research Articles

Fabrication of carbon nanotube reinforced aluminum alloy composites by vacuum-assisted infiltration technique

Carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforced 6063 aluminum (Al) matrix composites were fabricated by vacuum-assisted infiltration of molten 6063 Al alloy into a CNT preform to enhance compressive mechanical properties. Preforms were produced with different amounts of chemically functionalized CNTs to obtain three different CNT reinforcement ratios (0.25, 0.50, and 0.75 wt.%). In addition to the investigation of properties throughout all stages of the preparation of the CNTs, CNT preforms and fabricated composites by various methods of analysis, all steps of the composite fabrication process, as well as the compressive mechanical test results of CNT/6063 Al composites are all discussed. Approximately 250% and 280% increases in the yield and ultimate compressive strength, respectively, are achieved with low-purity CNT addition. Consequently, it is confirmed from the micrographs that the mechanical enhancements of the composites are mainly interrelated with the successful bridging of CNTs in the matrix material. Meanwhile, it is observed that both the modified Halpin-Tsai model and the modified Halpin-Tsai model developed with a dispersion-based prediction model results match with experimental results. Overall results can be accepted as developmental stages of significant progress in the CNT preform reinforced metal matrix composites field.

Fabrication, micro structural and mechanical characterization of Zircon Particles (ZrSiO4) reinforced Aluminum alloy (MMCs)

This paper presents the review on fabrication, Microstructural analysis, and Mechanical Characterization of Zircon silicate Particles (ZrSiO4 ) / Aluminum Alloy composite using the stir casting method. Aluminum alloy is known for its low density, high ratio of strength and weight, improved mechanical property, and corrosion resistance. Particulate reinforcement is widely preferred because of its isotropic properties which ease the homogenous distribution with the aluminum and its alloy. Zirconparticles (ZrSiO4) are the combination of ZrO2 , SiO2 , Fe3O2 , TiO2 , and Al2O3 . This review encapsulates the recent research work on different fabrication techniques, different characterizations, Microstructural analysis, and Fractroscopic studies on different Aluminum alloy matrix and ceramic materials reinforcement combination composites which improve physical, Corrosion resistant, microstructural, and mechanical properties.

Experimental investigation of sliding wear behaviour of boron carbide and mica reinforced aluminium alloy hybrid metal matrix composites using Box-Behnken design

Abstract In this work, wear performance of hybrid aluminium metal matrix composite (AMMC) was studied owing to the influence of mica addition on dry sliding. Technique of Stir casting is used to prepare the hybrid composite with AA6061 as matrix phase, 10% boron carbide (B4C) as primary reinforcement and varying weight fractions of mica (3%, 4% and 5%). Box-Behnken design of Response surface methodology (RSM) is used to analyze the experiments. Pin-on-Disc (PoD) equipment is used to carry out the work for varying sliding speeds, axial load and mica percentage, at room temperature. Coefficient of Friction (CoF) and Friction Force (FF) was evaluated and optimized using desirability approach of RSM. For CoF, the most significant parameter is rotational speed, and for FF it is axial load. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images of worn surface shows grove formation and roughness running in parallel with the sliding direction and abrasive wear mechanism is observed. Optimum condition arrived are; 3% reinforcement of mica, 695 rpm of rotational speed, 0.5 kgf of axial load and 3 min of sliding time with a CoF of 0.207 and FF of 5.47 N.

Electrical Discharge Machining of SiC Reinforced 6061-T6 Aluminum Alloy Surface Composite Fabricated by Friction Stir Processing

Engineered materials with high hardness, great wear tolerance, high high-temperature power, and a low thermal expansion coefficient are aluminum-based composites. These materials are widely used in the automotive and aerospace industries. Friction stir processing (FSP) method used to prepare SiC reinforced aluminium alloy surface composite. Material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness (SR) are measured with the impact of pulse on time, discharge current, and pulse off time (add one or two outcomes remark at SR and MRR optimal condition) is examined. For each of the three machining parameters, L9 orthogonal arrays (OA) of three levels were used in conducting the experiments. The validity of the Aluminum Surface Composite experiment programme is determined using MINITAB.

Graphene nanoplatelets reinforced aluminum alloy matrix composites produced by spark plasma sintering

Graphene nanoplatelets reinforced aluminum alloy matrix composites produced by spark plasma sintering

Mechanical properties of Fly ash reinforced Aluminium matrix composites

The present work aims to develop Fly ash (FA) reinforced Aluminium Alloy (AA6063) matrix composites using stir casting route and reporting their mechanical properties. The FA content is applied in the ranges of 0-9 weight percentage with the step of 3 % each. The mechanical properties such as hardness, tensile strength (UTS) and compressive strength (CS) of the composite and alloy samples have been studied. Results showed that addition of FA content up to 6 wt.% improved the mechanical properties and then decreased.

Morphological investigation and mechanical behaviour of agrowaste reinforced aluminium alloy 8011 for service life improvement

Aluminium composite materials are beneficial in most engineering applications, most notably, because of their lightweight to strength ratio amongst many others. This study reports the reinforcement of aluminium alloy 8011 with cow horn and corncob in varying weight percentages of 5wt%, 10wt%, 15wt% and 20wt%. This study adopted the Stir casting method based on availability and cost-effectiveness as the cheapest method amongst others. The developed composite materials were in eight different samples alongside one control sample of the aluminium alloy base material. The samples used for this experimental study were tested for tensile strength, hardness and microstructural analysis. The outcome of the study shows that the sample with 20wt% of cow horn reinforcement gave the best-improved properties in terms of yield strength, ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and hardness with percentage improvement of 57%, 52.6% and 54.4% respectively. Hardness was also improved with 52.6% over the control sample with the 15wt% cow horn reinforced sample. Cow horn of 10wt% reinforcement improved the material by 61%. The results shown have justified the relevant effect of agro-waste materials in composite development.

Study on mechanical properties and wear resistance of aluminum alloy composites reinforced by basalt fiber

Basalt fiber is a new type of environmentally friendly materials with excellent performance in the 21st century. Basalt fiber (BF) reinforced aluminum alloy composites with different length-diameter ratios (200:1, 400:1), different volume fraction (1%, 4%, 8%) was fabricated by room-temperature pressing and vacuum sintering method. It was found that the BF treated with electroless copper plating on the surface enhanced the mechanical properties and wear resistance of the composites, while the BF without copper plating on the surface weakened the hardness. With increasing the volume fraction of BF with copper plating, the hardness and the wear resistance of the composites increased. The length-diameter ratio ∼400:1 is superior enhancement aspect ratio of 200:1 of the reinforcing effect.

Design of Alumina Reinforced Aluminium Alloy Composites with Improved Tribo-Mechanical Properties: A Machine Learning Approach

Artificial intelligence approach for data-driven design is employed to design an alumina reinforced aluminium matrix composite (AMC) with improved tribo-mechanical properties. Machine learning tool, viz. Artificial neural network (ANN), is used as a tool to create a set of models describing the properties of the AMC. The database required for the ANN modelling was extracted from published literature. The objective functions to search the optimum combinations of composition, size and morphological properties were provided from those ANN models. Since the objectives are conflicting in nature, a multi-objective optimization is introduced using genetic algorithm as a tool and the achieved Pareto solutions are used for designing the composite with tailored properties.

Fabrication and characterization of novel nitinol particulate reinforced aluminium alloy metal matrix composites (NiTip/AA6061 MMCs)

The composites of aluminium alloy metal matrix composites (AAMMCs) are extensively used to achieve the industrial demand. The present investigation deals with the manufacturing of AAMMCs reinforced with different weight percentage of nitinol particulates (NiTip) by using the powder metallurgy (P/M) technique. The weight percentage of the NiTip reinforcement is ranging from 0%, 4%, 8%, and 12%. The hardness and surface roughness of the NiTip/AA6061 metal matrix composites (MMCs) have been tested and compared with the results available in the published source to assess the novelty of the present investigation. The morphology of the NiTip/AA6061 MMCs is characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experiment results exhibit that the surface roughness and hardness of the AAMMCs increase with increase in the percentage of NiTip content. This can also be due to the superior matrix-reinforcement interfacial bonding. The SEM results exhibit the homogenous distribution of the NiTip in AAMMCs.

Теплостійкість іонноазотованих алюмінієвих сплавів при ізотермічному та термоциклічному впливі

Тhe study of the main parameter that limits the use of pistons made of aluminum alloys in boosting engines - heat resistance and its dependence on diffusion ion-nitrided layers. In the analysis of recent studies and publications, the most common methods of heating samples during tests, their advantages and disadvantages are identified. The task of the study is to identify the relationship of factors that determine the heat resistance of ion-nitrided aluminum alloys under isothermal and thermocyclic effects for effective analysis of the mechanism of phenomena and control of the technological process of strengthening the pistons. The availability of this information will increase the strength and reliability of both the coatings themselves and the parts with coatings at the stage of their design. A set of laboratory equipment based on the Nutcracker installation was used for the study, which provides cyclic change of temperature and load of the sample, control and recording of temperature values, loading and deformation and operation in automatic mode. Flat samples of aluminum alloy AL2I with heat-protective diffusion ion-nitrided layers applied in the VIPA-1 installation and samples without treatment were used. Characteristics of the thermal cycle: 500 ° C ↔ 720 ˚C. heating time - 10 sec., cooling 15 sec., which corresponds to the real operating conditions of the pistons. The fixed value of the load was 0.8σВ according to DSTU 2637-94 and the criteria for determining the allowable stress in the Standards of ASME (80% of the average value of stresses that lead to a total deformation of 1%). The curves of isothermal and thermocyclic creep having three clearly expressed sites of creep are defined, depending on temperature their duration is different. Isothermal and thermocyclic creep curves of aluminum alloy AL21 with heat-protective diffusion ion-nitrided layers have three distinct creep areas, depending on the temperature their duration is different. This is due to the presence in the surface layer of the reinforcing phase AlNi; uniformity of distribution of components of a covering on a surface and degree of their refractoryness. This is due to the complexity of the movement of dislocations, which on their way face the need to overcome large obstacles in their movement, caused by the presence of a reinforced layer. Conclusions. Based on the obtained curves of isothermal and thermo cyclic creep, it is established that the type of creep curves depends on the temperature and conditions of its influence on the composition "base-coating"; the time to failure in the thermo cyclic test mode is less than in the isothermal; in the process of creep of aluminum alloy AL21 with heat-protective diffusion ion-nitrided layers, two competing processes are observed: hardening due to plastic deformation and removal of hardening under the influence of elevated temperature; despite the different composition of heat-protective diffusion ion-nitrided layers, the resistance to isothermal and thermo cyclic creep of the reinforced aluminum alloy AL21 increased by 1.8 ... 2.2 times.

Analysis and Optimization of Abrasive water Jet Machiningprocesses on the hybrid nano particle reinforced Aluminum alloy matrix composite material

The Nano hybrid particles reinforced aluminium based MMC has been prepared and characterized. The materials chosen for the fabrication of the composites include Aluminium Al6061 alloy(70%) as the base or matrix material in the composite reinforced with hybrid Nano materials as the particulate reinforcements (Cu-9%, Gr-9% and Al2O3-12%) were prepared by following the stir casting route. The developed material has been characterized and subjected to AWJM process. The input parameters were carefully chosen. The Experimental design was formulated for the orthogonal array of L30. Observations were made and the results were taken to the Design Expert software so as to do the optimization process. Reinforcing a hybrid mixture comprising of an alloy, a metal, a ceramic and allotropy of carbon in the matrix and analysing their properties are in itself unique and such works are scanty. The material thus fabricated showed few novel characteristics. The conduciveness of processing the material, aimed at providing the good quality surface and the ease of reducing the bulk material were investigated. Unique tool for optimization proposed by RSM “the Central composite Design” was put in to use in this work. Bearings, Bushes etc. known for their structural supports could be manufactured using this material exhibiting good machinability aspects.

Microstructural, Microhardness and tribological analysis of cooling-assisted friction stir processing of high-entropy alloy particles reinforced aluminum alloy surface composites

High-entropy alloy (HEA) is a promising reinforcing material for aluminium alloys. In this work, cooling-assisted friction stir processing was applied to produce aluminium alloy surface composites reinforced with HEA particles. The effects of the volume fraction of HEA particles on the microstructure, microhardness and tribological properties were studied. The fabricated composites had uniformly distributed HEA particles and showed an excellent interfacial bonding between HEA particles and the matrix. The grain size of the fabricated composites was more refined than that of the base metal, and the grain sizes of the composites with 5 vol.%, 10 vol.% and 15 vol.% HEA particles were refined from a range of 2–15 μm of aluminium matrix to 1.8, 1.4 and 1.1 μm, respectively. The increased volume fraction of HEA particles caused an improvement in hardness and wear resistance. The composites reinforced with 15 vol.% HEA particles showed a 65.9% increase in hardness, a 43.0% reduction in wear rate and a 57.8% reduction in wear loss compared with those of the base metal. The wear mechanism was transformed from adhesive wear in the base metal to abrasive wear in Al–15 vol.% HEA surface composites.

Study on pitting corrosion behaviour of graphene oxide reinforced metal matrix composites

In this present study, the corrosion behavior of nano graphene oxide reinforced Aluminum alloy metal matrix composites investigated using pitting corrosion methods. The Al/GO composites were fabricated by ultrasonic stir casting technique. The effects of weight fraction of nano graphene oxides on the corrosion behavior of LM 24 aluminium alloy composites were analyzed. The corroded surfaces morphological were evaluated using scanning electron microscope and hardness was examined by microhardness tester. The experimental results were revealed that the corrosion rate was decreased with increases of weight percentage nano particles in the matrix. The microhardness values were gradually increased with increases of weight fractions of reinforcements in the matrix.

Influence of MWCNT Coated Nickel on the Foaming Behavior of MWCNT Coated Nickel Reinforced AlMg4Si8 Foam by Powder Metallurgy Process

This research studies the effect of multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) coated nickel to foaming time on the foam expansion and the distribution of pore sizes MWCNT reinforced AlMg4Si8 foam composite by powder metallurgy process. To control interface reactivity and wettability between MWCNT and the metal matrix, nickel coating is carried out on the MWCNT surface. Significantly, different foaming behavior of the MWCNT coated nickel reinforced AlMg4Si8 was studied with a foaming time variation of 8 and 9 min. Digital images generated by the imaging system are used with the MATLAB R2017a algorithm to determine the porosity of the surface and the pore area of aluminum foam efficiently. The results can have important implications for processing MWCNT coated nickel reinforced aluminum alloy composites.

Characteristics of Al-Alloy/Seashell (SESB) Composites in Acidic and Alkaline Environments

The corrosion behaviour of Al-alloy/Seashell (SeSh) composites in the acidic and alkaline environment was investigated in this study. Fifteen Aluminum alloy composites samples were produced using stir casting technology by varying the amount of reinforcement (1.5, 3.0, 4.5, 6.0, 7.5 wt%) and particle size (100, 150, 200 µm) of milled SeSh in the Aluminium alloy matrix. The corrosion rate was determined using a weight loss technique after 18 days of immersion at an interval of 72 hours. It was observed that 6.0 wt% of the 100 µm reinforced Aluminium alloy had the best corrosion resistance in acidic and alkaline environments. In general, the reinforced Al-alloy had better corrosion resistance when compared with the unreinforced samples. Analyses of the results show that aluminum alloy seashell composites exhibited better resistance to corrosion in the alkaline environment than the acidic environment.

Effect of graphene addition on the mechanical characteristics of AA7075 aluminium nanocomposites

Processing and characterization of graphene (Gr)-reinforced aluminium alloy 7075 (AA7075) microcomposites and nanocomposites are reported in this work. Composites are fabricated by mechanical alloying process at wet conditions. The bulk composites are prepared by uniaxial die pressing to get higher densification and sintered in an inert atmosphere. Density of the nanocomposites is higher than the microcomposites due to the reduction of grain size by increased milling time. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirms graphene interaction with the AA7075 matrix lattice spaces. The effective distribution of graphene with aluminium alloy is further confirmed by the Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) analysis. The hardness of the composites proportionally increases with the graphene addition owing to grain refinement. Wear morphology is characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Microcomposites reveal abrasive and ploughing wear mechanism of material removal from the surface. Nanocomposites show adhesive wear with delamination and particle pull-out from the material surface.

Effect of Tio 2 particles on the mechanical, bonding properties and microstructural evolution of AA1060/Tio 2 composites fabricated by WARB

Reinforced aluminum alloy base composites have become increasingly popular for engineering applications, since they usually possess several desirable properties. Recently, Warm Accumulative Roll Bonding (WARB) process has been used as a new novel process to fabricate particle reinforced metal matrix composites. In the present study, Tio2 particles are used as reinforcement in aluminum metal matrix composites fabricated through warm accumulative roll bonding process. Firstly, the raw aluminum alloy 1060 strips with Tio2 as reinforcement particle were roll bonded to four accumulative rolling cycles by preheating for 5 min at 300°C before each cycle. The mechanical and bonding properties of composites have been studied versus different volume contents of Tio2 particles by tensile test, peeling test and vickers micro-hardness test. Moreover, the fracture surface and peeling surface of samples after the tensile test and peeling test have been studied versus different amount of Tio2 volume contents by scanning electron microscopy. The results indicated that the strength and the average vickers micro-hardness of composites improved by increasing the volume content of Tio2 particles and the amount of their elongation and bonding strength decreased significantly.

Synthesis and machining characteristics of novel TiC ceramic and MoS2 soft particulate reinforced aluminium alloy 7075 matrix composites

In this work, the synthesis and machinability studies are presented for a new TiC ceramic and MoS2 soft particulate reinforced aluminium alloy 7075 (AA7075) matrix composite (AMCs). The results show that the AMCs have improved machinability compared with the base AA7075. The chip morphology is changed from continuous sheared chips in AA7075 to discontinuous chips in AMCs. The change is caused by the reduced ductility in AMCs due to reinforcement TiC and MoS2 microparticles. The surface roughness is increased for the AMCs when compared to that of base alloy due to hard TiC particles.

Mechanical and tribological characterization of industrial wastes reinforced aluminum alloy composites fabricated via friction stir processing

Abstract The fabrication of particulate reinforced metal matrix composites via melt based processes poses issues like aggregation, wettability and formation of detrimental phases which may severely affect their performance. Recently developed solid-state process i.e., friction stir processing (FSP), is an efficient fabrication technique to counter the limitations of melt based processes. However, the incorporation of industrial waste in the metal matrix by using friction stir processing is rarely reported. Thus, the present investigation was carried out to reinforce the particulate type industrial waste in cast A356 alloy by friction stir processing. The performance of the fabricated composites as well as the as-cast A356 alloy was assessed through mechanical and tribological characterization. It was observed that FSP resulted in the eradication of porosity, fragmentation of α-Al dendrites, breakage and redistribution of Si particles, and grain refinement. A fair homogeneous distribution of reinforcement was observed in stir zone (SZ) with negligible aggregation of particulate reinforcement. The particle/matrix interface was free from any detrimental phase. The improvement in strength, ductility, and wear resistance was observed as compared to as-cast A356 alloy which was attributed to the microstructural changes that occurred during FSP, and the efficient reinforcement of particles via FSP.