Journal Press India^®

Author Details ( * ) denotes Corresponding author

Aluminum Matrix composites (AMCs) are known as light weight and high-strength materials with their potential application in areas such as aerospace, automobile, defence, engineering and other industries. AMCs have the advantage to significantly reduce the overall weight of the vehicles and aircraft while maintaining their structural strength. Reinforcement of micron or nano-sized range particles with aluminium matrix yields improved mechanical and physical properties in composite materials. The strength of Al matrix composites will be improved about 20% with decreasing reinforcement particle size from micrometric scale to nanometric scale. In this study, Al7075 alloy and nano SiC composites have been fabricated by Electromagnetic stir casting process combined with mechanical stirring. Different weight % of nano SiC particles (0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 wt%) were used for synthesis of composites. Certain test methods scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) are used to examine the microstructure along with the measurement of impact strength of the nano composite. SEM microstructure shows SiC particles are fairly infused into the matrix alloy with agglomeration and porosity at some places. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis acknowledged that no unknown crystalline elements are present in the composites while mixing reinforcement with Al alloy matrix. The results impact strength shows that impact strength decreases with respect to the base metal because of brittle nature of reinforcement.

Keywords

EMS: Electromagnetic Stirring; SEM: Scanning Electron Microscopy; XRD: X-ray Diffraction; AMC: Aluminium Matrix Composite.

1. Abdizadel H.,Baharvandi H. R.,2009.Mater. Sci. A 518,61-64


2. Hassan S.F.,Gupta M.,2005,Metall. Mater. Trans. 36A,2253-2258


3. Zhao Y.T.,Zhang S.L.,Cheng G.,Chen X. N.,Wang C.Q.,2008,Compos. Sci. Technol. 68,1463-1470


4. Ma Z.Y.,Tjong S. C.,Li Y.L.,1999,Compos. Sci. Technol. 59,263-270


5. Fogagnolo J.B.,Robert M.H.,Torralba J.M.,2006,Mater. Sci. Eng. A426,85-94


6. Ahmed,A. J. Neely,K. Shankar, P. Nolan,S. Moricca,T. Eddowes, Mater. Sci. Eng,vol 41,issue 6,1582-1591


7. Razavi Tousi S.S.,Yazdani Rad R.,Salahi E.,Mobasherpour I.,Razavi M.,production of Al-20wt% Al2O3 composite powder using high energy milling,powder technol. 2009,192,346-351


8. abibnejad-Korayem M.,Mahmudi R.,Ghasemi HM,Poole WJ,Tribilogical behaviour of pure MG and AZ31 magnesium alloy strengthened by Al2O3 nano-particles.Wear 2010;268:405-12


9. Radi Y,Mahmudi R,Effect of Al2O3 nano particles on the microstructural stability of AZ31 Mg alloy after equal channel angular pressing.Mater. Sci. Eng.,A 2010;527:2764-71


10. Lu L,Thong KK,Gupta M,Mg based composite reinforced by Mg2Si.Compos. Sci. Technol. 2003;63:627-32


11. Wang HY,Jiang QC,Zhao YQ,Zhao F,Ma BX,Wang Y,Fabrication of TiB2 and TiB2-TiC particulates reinforced magnesium matrix composites.Meter. Sci. Eng. A 2004;372:109-14


12. Mula S,Padhi P,Panigrahi SC,Pabi SK,Ghosh S,On structure and mechanical properties of ultrasonically cast Al-2% Al2O3 nano composites.Meter. Sci. Eng. A 2004;386:1154-60


13. Lan J,Yang Y, Li XC,Microstructures and microhardness of SiC nano particles reinforced magnesium composites fabricated by ultrasonic method,Mater. Sci. Eng. A 2004;386: 284-90


14. Lim Sung-Chul,Yoon Eui-Pak(1997):The effect of electromagnetic stirring on the microstructure of Al-7wt% Si alloy,Journal of materials Sci.,16:104-109


15. Jung B I,Jung C H,Han T K,Kim Y H(2001):Electromagnetic stirring and Sr modification in A356 alloy,Journal of Materials Processing Technology,111:69-73


16. Nafisi S,Emadi D,Shehata M T,Ghomashci R(2006):Effect of electromagnetic stirring and superheat on the microstructure characteristics of Al-Si-Fe alloy,Materials Sci. And Eng.A;432:71-83


17. Fan Z,Semisolid metal processing,International Materials Review 2002;47(2) 1-3