INVESTIGATIONS FOR ENHANCEMENT OF MECHANICAL PROPERTIES WITH REINFORCEMENT SIZE VARIATION IN METAL MATRIX COMPOSITES

Abstract

Metal matrix composites are emanating as advance engineering and structural materials and their demands are continuously growing in various sectors with higher pace. Among all the metals matrix composite, aluminum matrix composite are coming out as a tough potential competitor for the conventional materials for having large number of applications in aerospace, manufacturing, transportation, defence, sports and count goes on. The driving force for the usage of AMC over other is due to its ductility, toughness, strength and being less expensive. In this investigation, AMC has been fabricated using aluminum alloy Al 6063 T6 as base matrix material as aluminum characterizes the property of being light weight, durable, corrosion resistance and good strength and strengthening it by adding hard ceramic particle Boron Carbide (B4C) as reinforcement which the third hardest material known. Three different micro sizes of B4C have been incorporated viz.104µm, 74µm, 53µm. Stir casting technique has been used to synthesize aluminum metal matrix composite. Though several other techniques are available for the composite preparation, stir casting is preferred because of being simple, cost-effective, convenient to use, suitable for mass production and one of the proven processes. Micro-structure and mechanical behaviour of the Al alloy and prepared composites has been analyzed. Through optical microscopy, uniform and proper distribution of B4C particle is observed in the developed composites. It was observed that hardness of reinforced composite has been more than that of base alloy, in which composite with particle size 104µm has maximum hardness. Ultimate tensile strength of the prepared composite has found to be less as compared to base alloy which further shows a decreasing trend in tensile strength as the particle size decreases from to 104µm to 53µm.