Investigation of impact strength and hardness of aluminum based SiC particle reinforced composites

Abstract EN

Metal Matrix Composites have evoked a keen interest in recent times for potential applications in aerospace and automotive industries owing to their superior strength to weight ratio and high temperature resistance.

Although several technical challenges exist with casting technology yet it can be used to overcome this problem.

Achieving a uniform distribution of reinforcement within the matrix is one such challenge, which affects directly on the properties and quality of composite material.

In the present study a modest attempt has been made to develop Aluminum based Silicon Carbide particulate.

To achieve these objectives two step-mixing method of stir casting technique has been adopted and subsequent property analysis has been made.

Aluminum 6063 series and Si-C (300 mesh) has been chosen as matrix and reinforcement material respectively.

Experiments have been conducted by varying weight fraction of Si-C (7 %, 14 % and 21 %), while keeping all other parameters constant.

The results indicated that the ‘developed method’ is quite successful to obtain uniform dispersion of reinforcement in the matrix results obtained by microstructure test.

An increasing trend of hardness and impact strength with increase in weight percentage of Si-C has been observed.