Materials Science and Engineering A 498 (2008) 3741

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Materials Science and Engineering A

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/msea

Net-shape manufacturing of intricate components of A356/SiCp composite

through rapid-prototyping-integrated investment casting
B. Mondal a, , S. Kundu a , A.K. Lohar a , B.C. Pai b
a
b

Centre for Advanced Materials Processing, Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Mahatma Gandhi Avenue, Durgapur 713209, WB, India
National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science & Technology, Trivandrum, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 7 June 2007
Received in revised form
25 September 2007
Accepted 19 October 2007
Keywords:
Particulate reinforcement
Metal-matrix composites
Investment casting
Solidication

a b s t r a c t
The present study illustrates the manufacturing aspect of cast particulate metal-matrix composite (PMMC)
material through rapid-phototyping-integrated investment casting process. The uidity reduced from
base alloy to composite due to increase in viscosity of the melt in the presence of particulate. The manufacturing of complex shape and thin walled components with PMMC material poses a great difculty due
to their poor uidity. During investment casting, as the mould is preheated and dissipates heat very slowly,
particulate composite does not appreciably lose uidity but optimum preheat ceramic shell temperature
must be maintained during pouring. The dimensional variation from pattern to metallic part shows a very
minor difference because of proper allowance for the shrinkage of wax and metal, initially added to the
solid model. The SiC reinforced composite reached its peak hardness at an aging time of 4 h, whereas the
un-reinforced A356 alloy reached its peak hardness at 10 h of aging.
2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Particle-reinforced light metals are nowadays becoming
increasingly important due to their high potential as a material
with low cost, high strength as well as high wear resistance. The
factors that inuence the physical and mechanical properties of
these materials are very sensitive to the type of reinforcement,
mode of manufacturing [1,2] and the secondary processing. There
have been extensive investigations in the eld of cast metal-matrix
particulate-reinforced composites.
Liquid-metal processing has a great potential to achieve large
scale metal-matrix composites (MMCs) for production of net-shape
components and the mixing method is the most cost-effective way
to obtain discontinuously reinforced cast composite [36]. In the
synthesis of Al MMCs by liquid metallurgy route, the processing
temperature varies from 680 to 750 C. The uidity plays a crucial
role in castability of the alloy. It has been reported that the presence of reinforcement particle reduces the uidity of the melt [4],
the high temperature and long processing time may also reduce
the uidity. In Al alloy (low Si content) reinforced with high concentration of SiC, the uidity also reduces due to the formation of
Al4 C3 . Most of the commercial cast alloys display denite shrinkage
factors during solidication but such shrinkage is not yet standard-

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: bnmondal@rediffmail.com (B. Mondal).
0921-5093/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.msea.2007.10.126

ized in MMC material as well as in the manufactured net-shape

component. Solidication of particulate-reinforced Al-matrix composite has profound inuence on the properties of the composites.
The movement of dispersed particles in the melt and interaction
between these particles and growing solid phase determine the
spatial distribution of particles in cast composite. During solidication of MMC material, the redistribution of particulate takes place
[7]. It has been reported that the distribution of particle in AlSi7Mg
alloy reinforced with SiC particles is inuenced by solidication rate
as well as size of particle [8]. Aging kinetics is reported to inuence
by the presence of reinforcement particles [9]. Enhanced dislocation density due to the presence of reinforcement lead to accelerate
in precipitation of age hardnable Al alloys.
Aluminium alloy investment castings have been extensively
used in many applications over the last 25 years due to their excellent characteristics. The market is essentially the aerospace and
defense equipment manufacturer. Any intricate shape of components can be fabricated through investment casting. Presently there
are very few reports available in the literature regarding shaping of
particulate metal-matrix composite (PMMC) by investment casting route. The inuence of shell temperature, pouring temperature,
porosity and mechanical properties has been studied in case of
aluminium alloy [10]. The low shell and pouring temperature generally produce high tensile strength. It has also been found that
the shell temperature had a considerable inuence on the porosity in investment casting. Selectively ber reinforced aluminium
composite has been studied with pouring in a vacuum chamber

38

B. Mondal et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 498 (2008) 3741

Table 1
The chemical composition of A356 alloy
Cu
Mg
Mn
Si
Fe
Zn
Balance

0.25
0.36
0.35
6.5
0.6
0.35
Al

under pressure, which allows the melt to ow into the ber bundles [11]. In this system higher ultimate tensile strength combined
with reasonable castability have been observed. Experiments were
conducted to assess the suitability of ceramic moulds for use in the
pressure-assisted investment casting process [12].
In the present study, the attempts have been made to develop
the SiC reinforced PMMCs of Al alloy through stir-casting followed by manufacturing of cylinder head, a intricate component
and uidity test specimens through rapid-prototyping-integrated
investment casting. The microstructure and mechanical properties
of PMMC have been studied. The effect of particulate distribution and mechanical properties has also been evaluated in the
investment cast cylinder head component of SiC reinforced Al alloy
composite.

in the form of tree assembly integrated with pouring cup, central sprue and runner system. Then the trees of wax patterns were
cleaned and dipped into primary ceramic slurry followed by stuccoing with refractory sand and placed in an environment where
the ceramic layer will quickly dry up. After the primary coats had
been applied, the back-up coats were performed with slurry having larger grain size particles preferably to build the shell thickness
more rapidly as well as to maintain permeability. After drying of
each layer, the process was repeated with subsequent layers after
being sprinkling with stucco until the required ceramic shell thickness had been achieved. When the ceramic shelling is completed
the moulds were air dried for 24 h, depending on the total mould
mass and the water content of the particular slurry used. Then
the dried ceramic shell moulds were de-waxed in an autoclave
followed by burning at 900 C for 12 h in a resistance-heating furnace. After dewaxing the ceramic shell moulds were cooled to room
temperature for proper cleaning in side the shell and then again
placed the shells in the furnace to preheat at different temperature range and make ready for casting of MMC. The methodology
and the development process to manufacture the cylinder head
component through RP integrated investment casting is shown in
Figs. 1 and 2 respectively.

2. Experimental details

2.2. Materials

2.1. Wax pattern and shell mould preparation

In this study, the commercially grade of Al alloy, A356 was used

as a matrix and was reinforced with SiC particulate. It has excellent castability and good wettability. The chemistry of the alloy
is specied in Table 1. The silicon carbide particles (-SiC), of
average size 35 m, were used as the reinforcement. 15 vol.% SiC
reinforced A356 composite was prepared by stir-casting technique
in a resistance-heating furnace.

Fig. 1. Methodology followed to produce the nal component.

Rapid prototyping (RP) is gaining increased popularity nowadays. RP technology is utilized for making rapid tooling (RT) to
manufacture the wax patterns of investment casting. The wax patterns were made in an MCP vacuum casting machine by pouring
the molten wax in the silicon rubber mould and were then gated

Fig. 2. Cylinder head developed through RP-integrated investment casting process.

4.16
156.80
64.22
60.31
17.36
0.01
0.81
0.35
0.26
0.04
4.16
156.75
64.19
60.32
17.35
0.05
0.11
0.08
0.08
0.06

Metal part
(g) (mm)
Metal part
(g) (mm)

Deviation
h = (g e) (mm)

Composite
A356
Deviation
(f) = (e c)

Fig. 3. The experimental set-up for melting and stirring system.

0.01
0.76
0.32
0.25
0.05

39
Deviation
h = (g e) (mm)

B. Mondal et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 498 (2008) 3741

4.17
157.56
64.54
60.06
17.31
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.03
0.02
4.22
157.67
64.62
59.98
17.25
A (Fin)
B (Length)
C (Width)
D (Big hole)
E (Small hole)

4.2
157.65
64.60
59.95
17.27

Deviation (d) = (c b)
(mm)
RP model
(c) (mm)
CAD model
(b) (mm)

1
2
3
4
5

Spiral uidity test moulds were prepared and subjected under

similar investigation. The moulds were carried out under similar
preheat and pouring temperature with similar metal static pressure because of the same mould height and after pouring the
moulds were allowed for natural cooling as usual procedure used
in investment casting process. In the present study, effort was
made to observe the effect of 15 vol.% SiC particle additions to
A356 alloy on uidity. It was observed that the uidity reduced
from 22 in. in case of A356 alloy to 15 in. in case of 15 vol.%
SiC reinforced A356 composite (Fig. 4). The reason for signicant reduce of uidity in particulate reinforced composite may

Different position

3.1. Fluidity measurement

Sl. no.

3. Results and discussion

Table 2
Dimensional variation from CAD to nal product of composite

About 4.55 kg of composite material was melted in an argon

gas atmosphere. The top of crucible was covered with insulation
board. A graphite impeller of four blades attached to the motor by
a steel rod used as a mechanical stirrer. The stirrer shaft was made
of 12 mm diameter mild steel rod and enclosed in a graphite sleeve
to prevent contact with the molten aluminium. Fig. 3 shows the
experimental set-up for a melting and stirring system. The temperature of the melt was raised up to 720750 C and stirrer was
moved to a depth of about 0.6 times the height of the melt in the
crucible. The melt was stirred at about 150200 rpm after melting
so that particles do not settle down. The stirring was continued
till the saturated pouring temperature was reached. The composite melt was poured into the investment mould at temperature of
720750 C where the preheat temperature of the shell mould was
500 C. Cast composite samples of 8 mm thickness, 65 mm width
and 180 mm height was melted for casting of cylinder head along
with uidity test samples. After casting the moulds were cooled at
room temperature and ceramic shells were knocked out to get the
nal product.

Wax part (e)

2.3. Melting and casting

40

B. Mondal et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 498 (2008) 3741

Fig. 4. (a) Spiral uidity test specimens (A) RP model, (B) metallic part of Al alloy (A356) and (C) metallic part of SiC reinforced Al alloy (A356) and (b) shell mould.

be due to increase in the viscosity of the melt by incorporation

of particles to Al alloy. Interfacial reactions may also reduce the
uidity.

teract the dimensional variation in metal component and make a

net-shape component through RP-integrated investment cast composite material.

3.2. Dimensional variation

3.3. Microstructure
The shrinkage allowance of wax and metal is generally considered in the 3D model. In this process the double shrinkage
was given to the 3D CAD model so that it can compensate during
wax and nal metal shrinkage. There is no standard data available for composite material shrinkage and another point is to be
noted here that the conventional casting process usually provides
linear allowance. In the present studied material, total shrinkage
allowance is given in terms of volumetric shrinkage. The shrinkage for wax was considered as 0.8% and for aluminium 1.3%. The
dimensional variation from 3D CAD model to metal component is
shown in Table 2. It has been observed that there is minor variation
in CAD model and RP pattern. The wax and the metal shrinkage
are more than the shrinkage provided to the CAD model. However, thick section shrinkage is more than the thinner section. In
the present study a very minor difference in dimensional variation
was observed after casting with A356 alloy and with composite.
Generally composite are leading to lower shrinkage compare to
alloy but the above result may be due to lower volume fraction
of SiC present in the composite. Further study is required to coun-

Microstructures of A356/SiC/15p composites in as cast and T6

condition as shown in Fig. 5 has been studied. The micrographs of
lower magnication were studied for particle distribution, whereas
high magnications were observed to reveal the effect of heat
treatment on matrix of the composite. In the microstructure, the
primary -Al, eutectic structures and SiC particles were observed.
In cast structures eutectic silicon in lamellar form and a continuous
network at grain boundaries were observed. After heat treatment
spheroid eutectic silicon was found. The particles were generally
observed to accommodate on the grain boundaries. It was also
noticed that the different types of porosity, such as gas bubbles and
particle-porosity clusters were present in some area, which may be
due to gas absorption during casting. The distribution of the SiC particles was not uniform and clustering of particles was also found,
which may be due to slow solidication rate in investment casting
and pushing of the particles by the solidication front respectively.
However more detailed studies are needed for understanding the
microstructure.

Fig. 5. A356/SiC/15p composite in as cast state (a) low magnication, (b) high magnication and T6 condition, (c) low magnication and (d) high magnication.

B. Mondal et al. / Materials Science and Engineering A 498 (2008) 3741

41

Table 3
Mechanical properties of the test samples
Sl. no.

Properties

As cast A356

Heat treated A356

As cast composite

Heat treated composite

1
2
3
4
5

Tensile strength (MPa)

Yield strength (MPa)
% of elongation
Comp. strength (MPa)
Hardness (BHN)

130
80
2.0
100
55

150
125
1.0
115
70

182
102
1.0
135
55

208
150
1.10
160
75

Fig. 6. Age hardening response curves for A356/SiC/15p composite and A356 alloy.

3.4. Mechanical properties

The mechanical properties of the investment cast conventional
alloy (A356) as well as Al composite material reinforced with SiC is
shown in Table 3. The strengthening of the composites reinforced
with SiC particles may be due to generation of higher dislocation
density in the matrix close to particles. The load transferred by
the matrix to the higher strength particles due to the strong interface bonding between the matrix and the reinforcement may also
contribute to the strengthening of the composites.
3.5. Age hardening behavior
The aging response of the A356/SiC/15p composite and A356
alloy is shown in Fig. 6. The SiC reinforced composite reached its
peak hardness at an aging time of 4 h, whereas the un-reinforced
A356 alloy reached its peak hardness at 10 h of aging. The acceleration of aging response in the SiC particle reinforced composite may
be due to higher dislocation density around the particles generated
by mismatch of coefcient of thermal expansion of Al alloy matrix
and SiC particles. The nucleation of Mg2 Si precipitates is favored in
these high-energy regions of concentrated dislocations.
4. Conclusions
The following conclusions can be drawn from the present study
on RP-integrated investment cast cylinder head component of Al
alloy matrix composite reinforced with 15 vol.% SiC:
(i) The spiral uidity test reveals that the uidity index reduced
from base alloy to composite. The reason may be due to increase

in the viscosity of the melt by incorporation of particles to Al

alloy or may be for the interfacial reactions between the matrix
and the reinforced particles.
(ii) Microstructure of as cast composite in ceramic shell mould can
be improved by controlling the preheated mould temperature
and it may closely correlate with the permanent metal mould.
(iii) Thin wall casing of intricate component like cylinder head can
be possible by controlling the ceramic mould temperature as
well as pouring temperature of the cast composite. Dimensional variation is mainly inuenced by the volume fraction
of particulate present in the composite. Low volume fraction
of SiC does not lead to wide variation in shrinkage compare to
the base alloy.
(iv) The observed acceleration of aging response in the SiC particle
reinforced composite may be due to higher dislocation density
around the particles generated by mismatch of coefcient of
thermal expansion of Al alloy matrix and SiC particles and also
by nucleation of Mg2 Si precipitates which is favored in these
high energy regions of concentrated dislocations.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express their gratitude to Dr. Gopal P.
Sinha, Director, CMERI for his constant encouragements and kind
permission to present the paper. The authors are also thankful to
CSIR, Govt. of India, for extending nancial support in network AMT
project. The help rendered by our scientic and technical staffs, viz.
Mr. B.R.K. Venkatpathi, Mr. S.K. Das of CAMP Group and concerned
scientists and technical staff members of RPT Group, CMERI are
acknowledged. The authors are also thankful to the team members
of RRL, Trivandrum for extending their support for providing cast
composite and microstructure studies.
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