ICAMB 2012, Jan 9-11, 2012

An investigation on the liquid state processing of ceramic reinforced aluminium matrix composites
T.A. Aswathsaravanan, A. Tony Thomas, R. Parameshwaran

Abstract Composites materials are made from two or more

constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at macroscopic or microscopic scale even after they are made into a single material. Metal Matrix Composites have been used due to its high strength to weight ratio and high temperature resistance. In this paper a modest attempt has been made to develop aluminium based silicon carbide particulate MMCs with an objective to develop a conventional low cost method of producing MMCs and to obtain homogenous dispersion of ceramic material. The applications of MMCs like rotor blades in aerospace and drive shafts, pistons etc in automotive industries involves manufacturing and utilization of large number of components, so the cost should be low and the process should be easy and simple in order to reduce cost and time. To achieve these objectives stir casting technique has been adopted and subsequent property analysis has been made. The stirrer used in this process consists of automatic feeder which is designed for this purpose disperses the reinforcement particles uniformly into the aluminium matrix. The feeder is made of steel alloy (height 83mm, major diameter 70mm, minor diameter 55mm, diameter of holes 3mm, thickness 1mm). Aluminium (LM6) and SiC (grit 800) has been chosen as matrix and reinforcement material. Experimental analysis have been conducted by varying weight fractions of SiC (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 30%), by keeping the temperature constant. With the increase in weight percentage of SiC the increase in tensile and hardness and impact strength has been observed. The results indicate that the developed method is quite successful to obtain uniform distribution of reinforcement into matrix.

KeywordsMetal Matrix Composites MMCs, Silicon Carbide

SiC.

I. INTRODUCTION HE composite materials have got a widely applications in all cutting-edge ranges of advanced materials as aeronautics, automotives, boats, sports parts and medical devices. A composite is a structural material that consists of two or more combined constituents that are combined at a
F. T.A.Aswathsaravanan (corresponding author), PG Scholar, Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, Erode- 638 052. (E-mail: aswath_aero@yahoo.com). S. A.Tony Thomas, Asst. Professor, Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, Erode- 638 052. (E-mail:a_tony84@yahoo.com) T. Dr.R.Parameshwaran , Professor and Head, Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, Erode- 638 052. (E-mail: paramesh_r@kongu.ac.in).

macroscopic level and are not soluble in each other. One constituent is called reinforcing phase and one in which it is embedded is called the matrix. The reinforcing phase material may be in the form of fibers, particles or flake. The matrix phase materials are generally continuous. Few examples of the naturally found composites include wood, where the lignin matrix is reinforced with cellulose fibers and bones in which the bone-salt plates made of calcium and phosphate ions reinforce soft collagen. The roles of matrixes in composite materials are to give shape to the composite part, protect the reinforcements to the environment, transfer loads to reinforcements and toughness of material, together with reinforcements. The aims of reinforcements in composites are to get strength, stiffness and other mechanical properties, dominate other properties as coefficient of thermal extension, conductivity and thermal transport. Like all composites, aluminum-matrix composites are not a single material but a family of materials whose stiffness, strength, density, thermal and electrical properties can be tailored. The matrix alloy, reinforcement material, volume and shape of the reinforcement, location of the reinforcement and fabrication method can all be varied to achieve required properties. The aim involved in designing metal matrix composite materials is to combine the desirable attributes of metals and ceramics. The addition of high strength, high modulus refractory particles to a ductile metal matrix produce a material whose mechanical properties are intermediate between the matrix alloy and the ceramic reinforcement. Metals have a useful combination of properties such as high strength, ductility and high temperature resistance, but sometimes have low stiffness, whereas ceramics are stiff and strong, though brittle. The most common matrix materials for Polymer matrix composites (PMC) are polymers. Polyesters and vinyl esters are the most widely used and least expensive polymer resin. The main advantages of PMCs are their low maximum working temperature, high coefficient of thermal expansion and sensitivity to radiation and moisture. The strength and stiffness are low compared with metals and ceramics. Metal matrix composites (MMC) can be used at higher temperature than their base metal counterparts. The reinforcements in these materials may improve specific strength, abrasion resistance, creep resistance and dimensional stability. The MMCs are light weight and resist wear and thermal distortion, so it mainly used in automobile and aerospace industry. 36

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ICAMB 2012, Jan 9-11, 2012 uniformly manner and controlling the rate of feeding. The feeder is designed in funnel shaped in order to achieve the above tasks. The funnel shaped feeder has holes on its body. SiC particles fed through the holes. This funnel shaped feeder is attached in the rod and due to the angular motion of the rod the particles inside the feeder which is stored already has centrifugal acceleration and tries to escapes from the feeder. Holes on the body surface of feeder helps to spray the particles uniformly. Feeder Specifications Material Height Major diameter Minor diameter Diameter of holes Thickness : : : : : : steel alloy 83 mm 70 mm 55 mm 3 mm 1 mm

One of the main objectives in producing Ceramic matrix composites (CMC) is to increase the toughness. Ceramic Materials are resistant to oxidation at elevated temperature. The developments of CMCs has lagged behind mostly for the reason that most processing routes involve higher temperature and are only employed with high temperature reinforcements. A. Processing of Metal Matrix Composites. The selection of the processing route depends on many factors including type and level of reinforcement loading and the degree of micro structural integrity desired). Primary processes for manufacturing of MMCs can be classified into two main groups such as solid state processing and liquid state processing. Powder blending followed by consolidation (PM processing), diffusion bonding and vapor deposition techniques comes under solid state processing. Liquid state processes include stir casting or compo casting, infiltration, spray casting and in situ (reactive) processing. B. Selection of Processing Method. Liquid state fabrication of Metal Matrix Composites involves incorporation of dispersed phase into a molten matrix metal, followed by its Solidification. In order to provide high level of mechanical properties of the composite, good interfacial bonding (wetting) between the dispersed phase and the liquid matrix should be obtained. Wetting improvement may be achieved by coating the dispersed phase particles (fibers). Proper coating not only reduces interfacial energy, but also prevents chemical interaction between the dispersed phase and the matrix. Stir casting is one of the most economical and simplest methods available for the fabrication of the MMC. Very large numbers of components are also fabricated easily by this technique. The strength of the materials can be increased by proper mixing of the particles and the matrix. II. PROBLEM DESCRIPTION Stir casting of metal matrix composites has many defects like uneven distribution and porosity. The density of the matrix and the reinforcement particles vary, so there is sedimentation of the reinforcing particles at the bottom of the crucible. These defects can be overcome by reducing the particle size of the ceramic particles and by stirring the molten metal after spreading the ceramic particles evenly into the matrix. An automatic feeder is designed and is attached with the stirrer. The feeder disperses the SiC particles evenly into the aluminium matrix by the centrifugal force that is created due to the rotation of the stirrer. The defect like porosity can be decreased by reducing the particle size of the silicon carbide particles. The particle size of the reinforcement must be small for maximum strength. A. Design of Feeder Feeder is used to feed the SiC particles in the molten aluminium. In existing system the feeder fed the SiC particles in localized manner. So the mixing of SiC particles in the molten aluminium only depends on the stirrer performance. Two things must be fulfilled such as feeding of SiC particles in
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B. Design of Stirrer Stirrer is used to mix the SiC particles in molten aluminium. Stirrer in the existing system stirs the SiC particles by providing minimum amount of stirring force which is inefficient. So the stirrer is modified to make various flow patterns to achieve uniform distribution of SiC and dimensions of the stirrer is modified to increase the stirring force by which cluster formations can be reduced. The stirrer has two blade assemblies which are namely upper and lower blade assembly. These two blades are placed in anti parallel manner. The complex flow pattern makes the SiC particles to mix uniformly and reduces the formation of cluster. Stirrer Specifications Material Height Diameter Blade width Blade breadth : : : : : steel 36 mm 65 mm 18 mm 25 mm

Overview of Experimental Setup

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ICAMB 2012, Jan 9-11, 2012 Experimental setup consists of electric furnace which is used to melt the aluminium ingots. This electric furnace is fully covered in order to avoid heat loss by convection. Temperature of the electric furnace is monitored by a thermocouple. This thermocouple measurement is input to controller unit which controls temperature at the set value. Feeder and stirrer is fitted in a rotating rod which is connected to the electric motor. The whole set of feeder, stirrer and electric motor is kept exactly centre of the crucible and above the furnace. using a load of 187.5 kg and a steel ball of diameter 2.5 mm as indenter. The hardness value is higher for the specimen-6 (25% SiC) and it decreases on further adding the SiC particles. This happens due to the uneven distribution of the particles and sedimentation of the particles below the melt. Because of increasing weight of the SiC, the particles agglomerate at the bottom of the crucible. This occurs after the addition of SiC above 25%. B. Impact strength test

III. METHODOLOGY Stir Casting is a liquid state method of composite materials fabrication, in which a dispersed phase (ceramic particles, short fibers) is mixed with a molten matrix metal by means of mechanical stirring. Initially the aluminium material is kept in the crucible allowed to melt. The temperature of the crucible is set at 900oc. while stirring because of the heat loss the temperature of molten aluminium will become 800oc. Now the stirrer is placed in the molten aluminium in such a way that 30% of the molten aluminium is below the stirrer. Feeder is stored by SiC particles and motor is allowed to rotate for ten minutes and then the stirrer is removed. The liquid composite material is then cast by conventional casting methods. First of all stirring system has been developed by coupling motor with gearbox and a mild steel stirrer. All the melting was carried out in a graphite crucible in an Electric furnace. The furnace temperature was first raised above the liquid to melt the alloy scraps completely and was then cooled down just below the liquid to keep the slurry in a semi-solid state. At this stage the Sic particles were added and mixed. In the final mixing process, the furnace temperature was controlled within 760 1000oC. Pouring of the composite slurry has been carried out in the sand mould prepared according to the specifications for hardness, tensile and impact test specimens.

Comparison of Impact Strength Test

The specimen-6 (Al + 25%SiC) has the maximum impact strength. It can be achieved by mixing the reinforcing particles and molten metal continuously. The SiC particles must be distributed uniformly into the matrix. These results are obtained by mixing the slurry evenly. The value increases gradually on increasing the weight proportion of the silicon carbide. C. Tensile Test Specimen Preparation ASTM E8 standard specimen is used to make tensile test on Aluminium alloys which is shown in Figure. Required specimen is prepared from work piece.

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS A. Brinell Hardness Test

ASTM E8 Standard Specimen Comparison of BHN Test

Experiments have been conducted by varying weight fraction of silicon carbide (5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30%). Hardness test has been conducted on each specimen
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Tensile test is taken to measure the strength of aluminium MMC. Tensile test is done by UTM computerized tensile testing machine. The specimen is loaded in the machine and the stress value is collected from the system. 38

ICAMB 2012, Jan 9-11, 2012

Al Alloy SiC Composite, International Journal of Advanced manufacturing Technology, pp 459-469. Ralph B. Yuen H.C. and Lee W.B. (1997) The processing of Metal Matrix Composites- an Overview, Journal of Material Process Technology, Vol.63, pp 339-353. Seo Y.H. and kang C.G. (1999) Effects of Hot Extrusion through a Curved Die on the Mechanical Properties of SiC/Al Composites Fabricated by Melt Stirring, Journal of Composite Science and Technology, Vol.59, pp 643-654. Sharma P C. (2007) Production Technology-Manufacturing processes S.Chand and Company limited, New Delhi. Sornakumar T. and Marimuthu Kathiresan. (2010)Machining studies of Die Cast aluminium alloy Silicon Carbide Composites International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Minerals, Vol. 17, pp 648-653. Vijayaram T.R. Sulaiman S. Hamouda A.M.S. and Ahmad M.H.M. (2005) Fabrication of Fiber reinforced Metal Matrix Composites by Squeeze Casting Technology, Journal of Material Processing Technology, Vol 178, pp 34-38. Sharma P C. (2007) Production Technology-Manufacturing processes S.Chand and Company limited, New Delhi. Wannasin, J. (2005), Fabrication of metal matrix composites by a highpressure centrifugal infiltration process, Journal of Materials Processing Technology, Vol. 169, pp.143-149.

190 185 180

187 181.6 178.8 172 168 165 162

[13]

Stress (Mpa)

175 170 165 160 155 150 145 Pure LM6 Al+5% SiC

[14]

[15] [16]

Al+10% Al+15% Al+20% Al+25% Al+30% SiC SiC SiC SiC SiC

[17]

Comparison of Stress values

[18] [19]

V. CONCLUSION The stir casting process is selected for the fabrication of the aluminium matrix composites since it is the most simple and low cost method. The experimental investigations on various specimens of varying weight proportion of SiC is carried out and it is found that silicon carbide particles does not mix properly with the matrix beyond 25%. This is because of the sedimentation of the SiC particles in the bottom of the crucible. The results of the study suggest that with increase in composition of SiC there will be an increase in hardness and impact strength. The best results are obtained at 25% weight fraction of 800 grit size SiC particles. REFERENCES
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