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Influence of SiC- Particulate addition on the Mechanical and Wear Properties of 6061 Al-Alloy
AMAR.S.D1, JEGANATH VITTAL.A.S2, PRASHANT.S.N3, MANJUNATH.D.T4, NAVEEN.K5
1,2,3,4,5

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumkur 560010, Karnataka, India.
conductivity 170 200 W/mK [6, 7, 8]. Addition of SiC particles into the aluminium matrix increases the hardness and strength of the composite. If the SiC particle concentration becomes more than the optimum value, final composite will tends to brittleness and also machining may become difficult. The hardness and strength of the composite also depends on the particle size of SiC. In the present work attempt has been made to study the influence of SiCp addition on the mechanical and wear behavior of 6061Al-alloy. For this purpose 4 and 6wt% of SiCp addition was used mechanical properties were evaluated as per the standards using computerized universal testing machine and wear properties were evaluated using pin-ondisc wear testing machine. II. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS

Abstract Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) have been used in several applications in aerospace and automotive industries. several technical challenges exist with casting technology. Achieving a uniform distribution of reinforcement within the matrix is one such challenge, which affects directly on the properties and quality of composite. In the present study 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 reinforcement in the metal matrix. In this paper it is aimed to present the experimental results of the studies conducted regarding hardness and tensile strength of Al6061-SiC composites. The composites are prepared using liquid metallurgy technique. The amount of reinforcement is varied from 0 to 6 wt. %. The prepared composites are subjected to the mechanical testing as per the ASTM standards. The Brinells hardness of the composite was found to increase with increase in filler content in composite. The dispersed SiC in Al6061 alloy contributed in enhancing the tensile strength of the composites. Keywords-Al6061; SiC; metal matrix composites; hardness; tensile strength; mechanical properties

The following section highlights the material, its properties and methods of composite preparation and testing. A. Materials used The matrix material for present study is Al6061. Table 1 gives the chemical composition of Al6061. Table 2 gives the details of the physical and mechanical properties of Al6061. The reinforcing material selected was SiC of particle size 125 m. Table 3 gives the details of the physical and mechanical properties of SiCp.
TABLE1. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF Al6061

I.

INTRODUCTION

Aluminium based composites are finding extensive commercial applications in several sectors such as aerospace, military, and automotive applications because of their low density, high strength and good structural rigidity [1]. The various reinforcements that have been tried out to develop aluminium matrix composites(AMCs) are graphite, silicon carbide, titanium carbide, tungsten, boron, Al203, flyash, Zro2,TiB2[2]. Addition of hard reinforcements such as silicon carbide, alumina, and titanium carbide improves hardness, strength and wear resistance of the composites [3]. Silicon carbide particulate reinforced aluminium composites possess a unique combination of high specific strength, high elastic modulus, good wear resistance and good thermal stability than the corresponding non-reinforced matrix alloy systems [4]. Off all the aluminum alloys, Al6061 is quite a popular choice as a matrix material to prepare MMCs owing to its better formability characteristics [5]. SiC being the most hard material and it is used in particulate form in preparing the composites with Aluminium and other metals, ceramics as a matrix material. Al/SiC composites are widely used in electronic packaging industries and to produce sealrings for its high thermal

Si 0.62 Zn 0.22

Cu 0.23 Pb 0.10

Fe 0.22 Ti 0.01

Mn 0.03 Sn 0.01

Mg 0.84 Al BAL

TABLE 2. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF Al6061

Elastic Modulus (GPa) 70-80

Density (g/cc) 2.7

Poissons Ratio 0.33

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TABLE3. PHYSICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SiC Elastic Modulus (GPa) 410 Density (g/cc) 3.1 Poissons Ratio 0.14 Hardness (HB500) 2800 Compressive Strength (MPa) 3900

B. Preparation of composites The liquid metallurgy route has been adopted to prepare the cast composites as described below. Preheated SiC powder of laboratory grade purity of particle size 150 m was introduced into the vortex of the molten alloy after effective degassing. Mechanical stirring of the molten alloy for duration of 10 min was achieved by using ceramiccoated steel impeller. A speed of 400 rpm was maintained. A pouring temperature of 730C was adopted and the molten composite was poured into graphite moulds. The extent of incorporation of SiC in the matrix alloy was varied from 0, 4 and 6 wt%. Thus composites containing particles 0, 4 and 6 wt % were obtained in the form of cylinders of diameter 15mm and length 125mm. C. Testing of composites The cast composites were machined and the specimen for the measurement of hardness as well as for mechanical behavior were prepared as per ASTM standards. Brinells hardness tester was used to measure the Hardness. The mechanical properties were evaluated . 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS The test results of Al6061 and its composites containing SiC at various weight percentages are presented in these sections. A. Effect of SiC on the mechanical properties The mechanical properties such as hardness, tensile strength and elongation test results of Al6061 and its composites containing SiC at various weight percentages are presented in these sections. B. Hardness The change in the hardness of composite with increased content of reinforcement shown in Fig. 1 represents the variation in hardness evaluated at a load of 62.5kgf with increasing percentage of SiC in Al6061. It is observed that the hardness of Al6061 composites increases with increased content of the SiC reinforcement. This increase in hardness of the composite may be due to the reason the reinforcement material is much harder than that of the matrix material and also due to the good bonding between the matrix and reinforcement material.

Figure 1. Variation in the hardness with different wt% of SiC C. Tensile Strength From the study of Fig. 2 it can be seen that the tensile strength increases with increasing percentage of SiC. From the figure it can be observed that the tensile strength of the composites is higher than that of the matrix alloy. Further, from the graph, the trends of the tensile strength can be found to be increased with increase in SiC content in the composites. This improvement in tensile strength of the composites may be attributed to the fact that the fuller SiC possesses higher strength and also may be due to the better bonding and also due to uniform dispersion of SiC particulates.

Figure 2.Variation in the tensile strength with different wt% of SiC

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D. Wear test The prepared Al6061 with varying weight percentage of SiC particles subjected to wear test under dry sliding condition. The test were conducted on 6mm diameter, 25mm long cylindrical specimens against a rotating EN-32 steel disc ( count face ) having hardness 63Rc. A Ducom Bangalore make, pin-on-disc wear test machine (Model ED201) was used for carrying out these tests. The tangential friction force and wear were monitored with help of electronic sensors. These two parameters were measured as a function of load and sliding distance. For each type of material, tests were conducted at three different nominal loads (10N, 20N and 30N) keeping the sliding speed fixed at 1.8 m/s, for a test run of 1000 to 3000m. Wear tests were carried out at room temperature without lubrication for 20 min. Further it can be seen that from fig. 3 and fig.4 that the percentage wear loss is decreasing with the increasing percentage of SiC content.

4. CONCLUSIONS The significant conclusions of the studies carried out on Al6061-SiC composites are as follows. Cast Al6061-SiC composites were prepared successfully using liquid metallurgy techniques. The addition of SiCp to 6061Al has resulted in improvement in both mechanical & wear properties. Addition of SiCp has resulted in increase in hardness of 6061Alalloy from 101.54BHN, 110.572BHN &118.486 BHN respectively. Improvement in tensile strength of the composite was obtained by the addition of SiCp when compared to monolithic 6061Al alloy. 6061Al alloy shows better wear resistance with the addition of SiCp over bare 6061Al alloy Further, with increasing weight fractions of SiCp has resulted in improvement in both mechanical &wear properties.
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Figure 3.wear test (sliding distance 2000m and load 10N)

Figure 4.wear test (sliding distance 3000m and load 20N)

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[9] Materials and Minerals Science Course C: Microstructure, Practical 17. [10] Adapted from ASM Metails handbook, ninth Edition,v.9, Metallography And Microstructure, American Society for Metals, Metals Park, OH,1985,p.12.
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