WEAR RESISTANCE OF METAL MATRIX COMPOSITE VIA MECHANICAL ALLOYING

Abstract

Poor hardness and high wear rate of aluminium alloy, which is used in various application, it is increases by adding the reinforcement particles. Commonly SiC, Al2O3, B4C, TiC, AlN and TiB2 used as reinforcement for composites. In our experiment, we used the Al 6061 as a matrix material and SiC of different proportion such as 2 (wt. %), 4 (wt. %), 6 (wt. %) and 8 (wt. %) for different composites. Sample is sintered at different temperatures such as 400°C, 450°C and 500C at constant pressure 60 MPa and 50°C/min heating rate for time 10 minutes by SPS. Change the processing parameters of SPS which influence the density, microstructures and mechanical properties such as hardness and wear resistance was investigated. Scanning Electron Microscope and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy are used to see the microstructure and SiC distribution in matrix material. Phases are present in milling powder and sintered sample was characterize through X-Ray Diffraction by analyze the results on X’Pert HighScore Plus software. Optical Microscope is used to characterize the microstructure, SiC particles distribution and porosity. Archimedes principle is use to find out the density of the sintered sample.