Characteristics of aluminum based composites synthesized using mechanical disintegration and deposition technique

Abstract

An innovative and cost effective process, called as mechanical disintegration and deposition technique has been used to synthesize aluminium based metal matrix composites in the present study. This technique consists of using a mechanical device to carry out disintegration of the molten composite slurry followed by depositing on a metallic substrate to obtain the solidified ingot. Microstructural characterisation studies revealed a reduction in the grain size of the specimens with increasing amount of reinforcement. The density and porosity of the composites were found to increase with an increase in the amount of reinforcement. The extruded composite specimens revealed a fairly uniform distribution of SiC particulates and good Al-SiC interfacial integrity. The Al-SiC interfacial microhardness, matrix hardness, elastic modulus, 0.2% yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the composite material increased while the ductility was adversely affected with an increase in the weight percentage of SiC particulates in the Al matrix.