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Effect of ceramic reinforcement on the microstructural, mechanical and tribological behavior of Al-Cu alloy metal matrix composite
Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Materials Today: Proceedings journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matpr
Effect of ceramic reinforcement on the microstructural, mechanical and tribological behavior of Al-Cu alloy metal matrix composite Md. Aktar Zahid Sohag a, Pallav Gupta b, Neha Kondal c, Devendra Kumar d, Neera Singh e, Anbesh Jamwal a,⇑ a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Alakh Prakash Goyal Shimla University, Himachal Pradesh, India Department of Mechanical Engineering, A.S.E.T., Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida 201313, India Department of Physics, Alakh Prakash Goyal Shimla University, Himachal Pradesh, India d Department of Ceramic Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi 221005, India e Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia b c
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 2 July 2019 Received in revised form 1 August 2019 Accepted 16 August 2019 Available online xxxx Keywords: Aluminum matrix composite Stir casting X-ray diffraction Optical microscopy Density Hardness Wear
a b s t r a c t Aluminum metal matrix composites are highly demanding materials at present time because of their excellent thermal, mechanical and electrical properties which makes them promising choice in material selection for many engineering applications. In the present study aluminum-copper alloy matrix composite reinforced with SiC and TiC is fabricated by stir casting process. In this study amount of copper is fixed as 2 wt% and SiC-TiC content is varied from (2 wt% to 8 wt%) at an interval of 2 wt%. XRD analysis revealed that there is no reaction between matrix and reinforcement phase. Microstructural analysis shows that there is uniform distribution of reinforcement particles. Density and hardness of composites were investigated which shows that increase in reinforcement content increases the hardness while there is decrease in density. Wear study reveals that composites reinforced with SiC and TiC exhibit lower wear rates. It is expected that this composite is beneficial for shipping applications. Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Mechanical and Energy Technologies.
1. Introduction Aluminum based metal matrix composites are of great interest in present time because of their superior mechanical, thermal and electrical properties such as improved toughness, higher strength, higher electrical conductivity, higher thermal conductivity, higher corrosion/oxidation resistance and lower specific gravity with higher specific strength in comparison to pure metals, nonmetals and even alloys [1]. The metal matrix composites are combinations of two or more different materials with a minimum one being metal and another material such as ceramics. When at least two or more than two reinforcement are present then it’s known as Hybrid composites [2]. Importance of aluminum matrix composites (AMC’s) is in the ground transportation (auto and rail), aerospace, recreational, thermal management and infrastructure industries which have been enabled by functional properties that include high structural efficiency, excellent wear resistance, and ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Jamwal).
attractive thermal and electrical characteristics [3]. The metal matrix composites (MMCs) is an advance form of material that is used for wide range of applications in automobile, nuclear energy plant, electronics, Bio-medical, Sporting industries etc. Aluminum composites are primarily reinforced by using hard materials like, Silicon carbide (SiC), Alumina (Al₂O3), Boron nitride (B4N), Boron carbide (B₄C), AIN, TiB₂,CNT and organic reinforcements are also used like fly ash [4–7]. These reinforcements provide excellent properties such as thermal conductivity, lower density, low weight, higher fatigue endurance, durability, higher machinability, resistance, creep resistance, dimensional stability, strength-to-weight magnitude relation performance over base metal even alloys [8–9]. There are many fabrication methods available which is used for fabrication of aluminum matrix composites (AMCs). These are stir casting, powder metallurgy, squeeze casting and in-situ process [10]. Stir casting method is generally used for the fabrication of composites because of its lower fabrication costs [11]. Stir casting processes additionally enhance the bonding strength between the reinforced particles and matrix because of its higher stirring action [12]. Aluminum alloys reinforced with SiC and TiC particles
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.08.179 2214-7853/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Mechanical and Energy Technologies.
Please cite this article as: M. Aktar Zahid Sohag, P. Gupta, N. Kondal et al., Effect of ceramic reinforcement on the microstructural, mechanical and tribological behavior of Al-Cu alloy metal matrix composite, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.08.179
2
Md. Aktar Zahid Sohag et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
are typically used for various automotive and aerospace applications due to their extreme hardness and temperature resistant properties. However, the total potential of those metal matrix composites is hindered by the higher fabrication cost [13]. Because of the difficulties in machining such as turning, drilling, sawing, there are still many research gaps [14]. Generally, it results in excessive tool wear because of the very abrasive nature of the material [15]. Metal matrix composites reinforced with hard ceramic fibers, particles are machined with either an electroplated diamond grinding wheel or inorganic compound with Poly Crystalline Diamond (PCD) cutting tools [16–18]. In the present work, aluminum matrix composites reinforced with Titanium carbide and Silicon carbide particles are fabricated using the liquid state stir casting process. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of Silicon carbide and Titanium Carbide reinforcement on the microstructure, hardness and tribological properties of AMCs.
Table 2 Composition and Nomenclature of SiC-TiC reinforcement in Al alloy matrix. S. No.
Composition
1 2 3 4 5
Al Al Al Al Al
(98%) (96%) (94%) (92%) (90%)
Cu Cu Cu Cu Cu
(2%) (2%) (2%) (2%) (2%)
Sample Code and and and and
SiC SiC SiC SiC
(1%) (2%) (3%) (4%)
TiC TiC TiC TiC
(1%) (2%) (3%) (4%)
BGU01 BGU02 BGU03 BGU04 BGU05
2. Experimental procedure 2.1. Material In this aluminum alloy AA6082 is used as a matrix material. The reinforcements are Titanium carbide and silicon carbide. Al and Cu (pure copper) as a matrix of base materials (98% purity), SiC (average particle of 300 mesh, 99% purity) and TiC (average particle of 300 mesh, 98% purity) were added as reinforcement in powder form. The chemical composition of Al-Cu alloy is shown in Table 1 and composition of different samples is shown in Table 2.
Fig. 1. XRD analysis of Al-Cu alloy.
2.2. Preparation of composites In the present study, aluminum metal matrix composites are prepared by stir casting technique. The stir casting technique is one of the important methods used in the metallurgical process. It is a process for fabrication of composites by stirring the molten base metal continuously with the help of mechanical stirrer. Aluminum alloy having 98% purity and copper ingots with 98% purity is used as the matrix material. TiC powder having 300 meshes with 99% purity and SiC powder having 300 meshes with 98% purity are used as the reinforcement materials. Firstly, in an electric furnace crucible is preheated at 500 °C for 15 min to remove the moisture. After that, Aluminum ingots are put in the crucible and temperature is raised up to 750°C. Reinforcement were preheated in the muffle furnace at 600 °C for 25 min to remove moisture and then mixture of TiC and SiC reinforcement was added into the molten metal and stirred at 300 rpm for 45 minutes. The furnace temperature is raised up to 1050 °C to ensure proper mixing of Al matrix with reinforcement particles. Then molten metal is poured in the die for solidification. Five samples were prepared with different compositions. Further, operations on lathe machine are done for sample preparation. Double disc polishing machine is used for polishing the samples. 3. Result and discussion 3.1. X-ray diffraction X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of Al-Cu alloy and reinforced Al-Cu alloy with 2% TiC and 2% SiC has been shown in Fig. 1 and
Fig. 2. XRD analysis of Sample BGU03.
Fig. 2. Angle range carried out for XRD study is 20⁰-80⁰ using Nifilter and CuKa radiation on Rigaku desktop Miniflex II X-ray diffractometer. Each and every peak of spectra has been analyzed individually. The peaks in XRD spectra reveal that SiC and TiC has been successfully incorporated in Al-Cu alloy. The broadening of XRD peaks suggests the existence of stress inside the sample [19]. A little shift of XRD peaks towards increasing value of 2h suggests the existence of compressive strain inside the reinforced samples. The grain size has been calculated using Scherrer’s formula which is
Table 1 Composition of Al (AA6082). Element
Aluminum
Mn
Si
Cu
Mg
Cr
Zn
Ti
%
95.2–98.3%
0.4–1.0%
0.7–1.3%
0.1% max
0.6–1.2%
0.25% max
0.2% max
0.1% max
Please cite this article as: M. Aktar Zahid Sohag, P. Gupta, N. Kondal et al., Effect of ceramic reinforcement on the microstructural, mechanical and tribological behavior of Al-Cu alloy metal matrix composite, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.08.179
Md. Aktar Zahid Sohag et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
D¼
0:9k b cos ðhÞ
where, D is the grain size, k is the 1.54 Angstroms (Cu-Ka), h is the diffraction angle [20]. Pristine Al-Cu alloy initially had grain size of 49.50 nm whereas on adding 2% TiC and 2% SiC the grain size reduced to 40.31 nm.
in Fig. 4. It is found that with the increase in the reinforcement content there is a decrease in the density of specimens. Composites reinforced with TiC and SiC exhibit less density than the Al-Cu alloy. Density of a material depends on many factors such as particle size, nature of reinforcement, shape and fraction [23]. Geometrical density is calculated for each sample by calculating its mass and volume. Formula used for density calculation was
Volume ¼ pr 2 h
3.2. Optical microscopy Microstructure of any material plays an important role in the evaluation of mechanical properties of that material [21]. Microstructure of composites was investigated on optical microscopy by Dewinter at 60X magnification. It is found that there is uniform distribution of TiC and SiC particles in the Al-Cu alloy metal matrix. Fig. 3 shows the microstructure of Al-Cu alloy reinforced TiC and SiC. Fig. 3 (a) BGU02 shows the uniform dispersion of TiC and SiC particles and Fig. 3 (b) BGU03, Figure (c) BGU04 and (d) BGU05 shows TiC and SiC particles are uniformly distributed in the Al-Cu matrix. The various particles i.e. TiC and SiC present in the composite have been marked by arrows in optical micrographs. From the investigation, it is found that increase in reinforcement content improves the microstructure of composites. In Fig. 3 (a) BGU02 specimen shows the TiC and SiC and Al-Cu matrix particles present in the composite and Fig. 3 (b) shows the number of marked reinforced particles present in BGU03 is more than the BGU02 because of higher amount of reinforcement content in BGU03. Fig. 3 (c) BGU04 shows the micrograph in which TiC and SiC are uniformly distributed in Al-Cu matrix. Fig. 3 (d) BGU05 is observed with the agglomeration of reinforcement. The microstructure of BGU05 shows more TiC and SiC particles, present at higher content of reinforcement But, the agglomeration between reinforced particles is also observed at higher reinforcement content. It can be stated that when the reinforcement is increased after a certain concentration, agglomeration between reinforced particles can occur. Uniform dispersion of reinforcement particles can be seen which helps to improve the mechanical and tribological properties of composites [22]. 3.3. Density and hardness Density of the composites having different reinforcement content is shown in the combined bar graph of density and hardness
3
Density ¼
mass
v olume
ð1Þ ð2Þ
Generally, ceramic particles are hard in nature and the decreasing trend in the density of composite is because of the coarse nature of TiC-SiC particles [24]. Material reinforced with ceramic particles possesses low densities because of the less theoretical density of ceramic particles as compared to conventional metals and alloys [25]. Ceramic particles consist of high densities due to the presence of volatile material. There are more void spaces in the coarse particles as compared to fine particles, which results in lesser volume and hence density is less [26]. Hardness of composites was tested on Vickers hardness testing machine. The Vickers hardness was performed on the polished sample with a constant load of 10 N with the sample size (4 15 mm). It is found that hardness of the composite reinforced with the TiC and SiC is higher than the aluminum alloy matrix. Al-Cu alloy sample BGU01 shows the hardness value of 49.8 HV and sample BGU02 shows the value 98.3 HV. Generally, ceramic particles are hard in nature due to the presence of both the covalent bond and ionic bond. The presence of ionic bond makes them hard as there is large amount of energy required to break them. In the presence of hard ceramic particles, plastic deformation has been resisted in the Al matrix. This is the main reason where TiC and SiC reinforced composite shows higher hardness and increase the mechanical properties. In composites, reinforcement particles act as a bonding agent which increases the strength of matrix. There is increase in hardness of composites due to the strong interfacial bonding of matrix material with reinforcement. 3.4. Wear rate Wear resistance of composite samples was tested by Pin-OnDisc machine with data acquisition system at room temperature without any lubrication on sample size of (15 25 mm) at different loads of 10 N, 20 N, 30 N and 40 N. Wear resistance of the
Fig. 3. Optical micrographs of sample (a) BGU02 (b) BGU03 (c) BGU04 and (d) BGU05 at 60X magnification.
Please cite this article as: M. Aktar Zahid Sohag, P. Gupta, N. Kondal et al., Effect of ceramic reinforcement on the microstructural, mechanical and tribological behavior of Al-Cu alloy metal matrix composite, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.08.179
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Md. Aktar Zahid Sohag et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
Fig. 4. Vickers hardness and density of different specimens.
Fig. 5. Wear rate of samples at load of 10 N, 20 N, 30 N and 40 N.
material is the property of a material which resists the material loss by the action of friction. It is found that the wear losses are higher in the Al-Cu alloy than the reinforced Al-Cu alloy metal matrix composites which is shown in Fig. 5. Basically, TiC and SiC particles resist the abrasion and plastic deformation during the wear tests. Wear rate is related to the hardness but it is not always dependent on the material’s hardness [27]. It is influenced by many other factors like toughness and reinforcement dispersion in the matrix. From the wear study, the decrease in wear rate can be seen due to the strong interfacial bonding between the reinforcement and matrix. It is found that the wear rate increases at higher loads. At the higher loads coefficient of friction is higher which increases the wear rate of composites. Wear rate of composites reinforced with SiC and TiC possess less wear rates than the Al-Cu alloy [28]. 4. Conclusion In this experimental study, aluminum matrix composite was prepared with varying Al-Cu/TiC-SiC content by using stir casting fabrication process. X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy, density, hardness and wear rate of composites were studied. Based on the experimental results, the following conclusions can be stated:
X-ray diffraction results of metal matrix composites reveal that there is no reaction between Al-Cu matrix with TiC-SiC reinforcements. In microstructural study, it is found that there is proper distribution of reinforcement particles in Al-Cu alloy. Microstructure shows that there is uniform dispersion of reinforcement particles at higher reinforcement contents. The density of the material depends upon the nature, fraction and size of the reinforcement particles. Density of Al-Cu matrix composites reinforced with TiC and SiC decreases with the increase in the reinforcement content. Minimum density is 2.257 g/cm3 found at 4% reinforcement content. Addition of TiC and SiC particles decreases the density of material. In the present study density of composites is decreasing due to the volatile nature of ceramic particles. Addition of TiC-SiC particles in the Al-Cu alloy matrix increases the hardness of the composites. Maximum hardness is obtained at 10 wt% of reinforcement in the Al matrix. Generally composite reinforced with ceramic particles possess higher hardness value as they resist deformation during the mechanical characterization. The addition of TiC-SiC particles in Al–Cu alloy matrix improves the wear resistance of composites by reducing the wear loss during the wear test. Composites reinforced with ceramic
Please cite this article as: M. Aktar Zahid Sohag, P. Gupta, N. Kondal et al., Effect of ceramic reinforcement on the microstructural, mechanical and tribological behavior of Al-Cu alloy metal matrix composite, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.08.179
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particles possess lower coefficient of friction which protects material from wear. It is found that maximum wear resistance is obtained at 10 wt% of reinforcement. This work can be further extended by fabricating the composites with different fabrication methods such as powder metallurgy and infiltration processes for better chemical homogeneity. References [1] A. Jamwal, P. Prakash, D. Kumar, N. Singh, K.K. Sadasivuni, K. Harshit, P. Gupta, Microstructure, wear and corrosion characteristics of Cu matrix reinforced SiC–graphite hybrid composites, J. Compos. Mater. (2019), 0021998319832961. [2] A. Jamwal, U.K. Vates, P. Gupta, A. Aggarwal, B.P. Sharma, Fabrication and characterization of Al 2 O 3–TiC-reinforced aluminum matrix composites, in: Advances in Industrial and Production Engineering, Springer, Singapore, 2019, pp. 349–356. [3] D.B. Miracle, Metal matrix composites–from science to technological significance, Compos. Sci. Technol. 65 (15-16) (2005) 2526–2540. [4] J. Hashim, L. Looney, M.S.J. Hashmi, The enhancement of wettability of SiC particles in cast aluminium matrix composites, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 119 (1–3) (2001) 329–335. [5] N. Natarajan, S. Vijayarangan, I. Rajendran, Wear behaviour of A356/25SiCp aluminium matrix composites sliding against automobile friction material, Wear 261 (7–8) (2006) 812–822. [6] Velusamy Senthilkumar, Bidwai Uday Omprakash, Effect of titanium carbide particle addition in the aluminium composite on EDM process parameters, J. Manuf. Process. 13 (1) (2011) 60–66. [7] K. Bandil, H. Vashisth, S. Kumar, L. Verma, A. Jamwal, D. Kumar, N. Singh, K.K. Sadasivuni, P. Gupta, Microstructural, mechanical and corrosion behaviour of Al–Si alloy reinforced with SiC metal matrix composite, J. Compos. Mater. (2019), 0021998319856679. [8] P. Reddy, R. Kesavan Subramanya, B. Vijaya Ramnath, Investigation of mechanical properties of aluminium 6061-silicon carbide, boron carbide metal matrix composite, Silicon 10.2 (2018) 495–502. [9] S. Suresha, B.K. Sridhara, Wear characteristics of hybrid aluminium matrix composites reinforced with graphite and silicon carbide particulates, Compos. Sci. Technol. 70 (11) (2010) 1652–1659. [10] R. George, K.T. Kashyap, R. Rahul, S. Yamdagni, Strengthening in carbon nanotube/aluminium (CNT/Al) composites, Scripta Mater. 53 (10) (2005) 1159–1163. [11] P. Jha, P. Gupta, D. Kumar, O. Parkash, Synthesis and characterization of Fe–ZrO2 metal matrix composites, J. Compos. Mater. 48 (17) (2014) 2107–2115.
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[12] P. Garg, P. Gupta, D. Kumar, O. Parkash, Structural and mechanical properties of graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composites, J. Mater. Environ. Sci 7 (5) (2016) 1461–1473. [13] P. Gupta, D. Kumar, O. Parkash, A.K. Jha, Effect of sintering on wear characteristics of Fe- Al2O3 metal matrix composites, Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. Part J: J. Eng. Tribol. 228 (3) (2014) 362–368. [14] P. Gupta, D. Kumar, O. Parkash, A.K. Jha, Structural and Mechanical behavior of 5% Al2O3 reinforced Fe Metal Matrix Composites (MMC) Produced by Powder Metallurgy (P/M) Route, Bull. Mater. Sci. 36 (5) (2013) 859–868. [15] P. Gupta, D. Kumar, M.A. Quraishi, O. Parkash, Corrosion behavior of Al2O3 reinforced Fe metal matrix nanocomposites produced by powder metallurgy technique, Adv. Sci. Eng. Med. 5 (4) (2013) 366–370. [16] K.M. Shorowordi, T. Laoui, A.S.M.A. Haseeb, J.P. Celis, L. Froyen, Microstructure and interface characteristics of B4C, SiCand Al2O3 reinforced Al matrix composites: a comparative study, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 142 (3) (2003) 738–743. [17] Manish Shukla et al., Characteristic behaviour of aluminium metal matrix composites: a review, Mater. Today Proc. 5 (2) (2018) 5830–5836. [18] S.V. Nair, J.K. Tien, R.C. Bates, SiC-reinforced aluminium metal matrix composites, Int. Metals Rev. 30 (1) (1985) 275–290. [19] I. Kerti, F. Toptan, Microstructural variations in cast B4C-reinforced aluminium matrix composites (AMCs), Mater. Lett. 62 (8–9) (2008) 1215–1218. [20] BeleteSirahbizu Yigezu, Manas Mohan Mahapatra, Pradeep Kumar Jha, Influence of reinforcement type on microstructure, hardness, and tensile properties of an aluminum alloy metal matrix composite, J. Minerals Mater. Character. Eng. 1 (04) (2013) 124. [21] P. Bindu, Sabu Thomas, Estimation of lattice strain in ZnO nanoparticles: X-ray peak profile analysis, J. Theoret. Appl. Physics 8 (4) (2014) 123–134. [22] C.R. Bradbury, J.K. Gomon, L. Kollo, H. Kwon, M. Leparoux, Hardness of multi wall carbon nanotubes reinforced aluminium matrix composites, J. Alloys Compounds 585 (2014) 362–367. [23] N. Singh, S. Banerjee, O. Parkash, D. Kumar, Tribological and corrosion behavior of (100x)(Fe70Ni30)-(x)ZrO2 composites synthesized by powder metallurgy, Mater. Chem. Phys. 205 (2018) 261–268. [24] A. Saxena, N. Singh, D. Kumar, P. Gupta, Effect of ceramic reinforcement on the properties of metal matrix nanocomposites, Mater. Today. Proc. 4 (4) (2017) 5561–5570. [25] G.R. Cappleman, J.F. Watts, T.W. Clyne, The interface region in squeezeinfiltrated composites containing d-alumina fibre in an aluminium matrix, J. Mater. Sci. 20 (6) (1985) 2159–2168. [26] M.K. Surappa, Aluminium matrix composites: challenges and opportunities, Sadhana 28 (12) (2003) 319–334. [27] M.R. Ghomashchi, A. Vikhrov, Squeeze casting: an overview, J. Mater. Process. Technol. 101 (1–3) (2000) 1–9. [28] P. Garg, A. Jamwal, D. Kumar, K.K. Sadasivuni, M.C. Hussain, P. Gupta, Advance research progress in aluminum matrix composites: manufacturing and applications, J. Mater. Res. Technol. (2019), https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jmrt.2019.06.028.
Please cite this article as: M. Aktar Zahid Sohag, P. Gupta, N. Kondal et al., Effect of ceramic reinforcement on the microstructural, mechanical and tribological behavior of Al-Cu alloy metal matrix composite, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.08.179
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Materials Today: Proceedings journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matpr
Effect of ceramic reinforcement on the microstructural, mechanical and tribological behavior of Al-Cu alloy metal matrix composite Md. Aktar Zahid Sohag a, Pallav Gupta b, Neha Kondal c, Devendra Kumar d, Neera Singh e, Anbesh Jamwal a,⇑ a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Alakh Prakash Goyal Shimla University, Himachal Pradesh, India Department of Mechanical Engineering, A.S.E.T., Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida 201313, India Department of Physics, Alakh Prakash Goyal Shimla University, Himachal Pradesh, India d Department of Ceramic Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi 221005, India e Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia b c
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 2 July 2019 Received in revised form 1 August 2019 Accepted 16 August 2019 Available online xxxx Keywords: Aluminum matrix composite Stir casting X-ray diffraction Optical microscopy Density Hardness Wear
a b s t r a c t Aluminum metal matrix composites are highly demanding materials at present time because of their excellent thermal, mechanical and electrical properties which makes them promising choice in material selection for many engineering applications. In the present study aluminum-copper alloy matrix composite reinforced with SiC and TiC is fabricated by stir casting process. In this study amount of copper is fixed as 2 wt% and SiC-TiC content is varied from (2 wt% to 8 wt%) at an interval of 2 wt%. XRD analysis revealed that there is no reaction between matrix and reinforcement phase. Microstructural analysis shows that there is uniform distribution of reinforcement particles. Density and hardness of composites were investigated which shows that increase in reinforcement content increases the hardness while there is decrease in density. Wear study reveals that composites reinforced with SiC and TiC exhibit lower wear rates. It is expected that this composite is beneficial for shipping applications. Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Mechanical and Energy Technologies.
1. Introduction Aluminum based metal matrix composites are of great interest in present time because of their superior mechanical, thermal and electrical properties such as improved toughness, higher strength, higher electrical conductivity, higher thermal conductivity, higher corrosion/oxidation resistance and lower specific gravity with higher specific strength in comparison to pure metals, nonmetals and even alloys [1]. The metal matrix composites are combinations of two or more different materials with a minimum one being metal and another material such as ceramics. When at least two or more than two reinforcement are present then it’s known as Hybrid composites [2]. Importance of aluminum matrix composites (AMC’s) is in the ground transportation (auto and rail), aerospace, recreational, thermal management and infrastructure industries which have been enabled by functional properties that include high structural efficiency, excellent wear resistance, and ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (A. Jamwal).
attractive thermal and electrical characteristics [3]. The metal matrix composites (MMCs) is an advance form of material that is used for wide range of applications in automobile, nuclear energy plant, electronics, Bio-medical, Sporting industries etc. Aluminum composites are primarily reinforced by using hard materials like, Silicon carbide (SiC), Alumina (Al₂O3), Boron nitride (B4N), Boron carbide (B₄C), AIN, TiB₂,CNT and organic reinforcements are also used like fly ash [4–7]. These reinforcements provide excellent properties such as thermal conductivity, lower density, low weight, higher fatigue endurance, durability, higher machinability, resistance, creep resistance, dimensional stability, strength-to-weight magnitude relation performance over base metal even alloys [8–9]. There are many fabrication methods available which is used for fabrication of aluminum matrix composites (AMCs). These are stir casting, powder metallurgy, squeeze casting and in-situ process [10]. Stir casting method is generally used for the fabrication of composites because of its lower fabrication costs [11]. Stir casting processes additionally enhance the bonding strength between the reinforced particles and matrix because of its higher stirring action [12]. Aluminum alloys reinforced with SiC and TiC particles
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.08.179 2214-7853/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Mechanical and Energy Technologies.
Please cite this article as: M. Aktar Zahid Sohag, P. Gupta, N. Kondal et al., Effect of ceramic reinforcement on the microstructural, mechanical and tribological behavior of Al-Cu alloy metal matrix composite, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.08.179
2
Md. Aktar Zahid Sohag et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
are typically used for various automotive and aerospace applications due to their extreme hardness and temperature resistant properties. However, the total potential of those metal matrix composites is hindered by the higher fabrication cost [13]. Because of the difficulties in machining such as turning, drilling, sawing, there are still many research gaps [14]. Generally, it results in excessive tool wear because of the very abrasive nature of the material [15]. Metal matrix composites reinforced with hard ceramic fibers, particles are machined with either an electroplated diamond grinding wheel or inorganic compound with Poly Crystalline Diamond (PCD) cutting tools [16–18]. In the present work, aluminum matrix composites reinforced with Titanium carbide and Silicon carbide particles are fabricated using the liquid state stir casting process. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of Silicon carbide and Titanium Carbide reinforcement on the microstructure, hardness and tribological properties of AMCs.
Table 2 Composition and Nomenclature of SiC-TiC reinforcement in Al alloy matrix. S. No.
Composition
1 2 3 4 5
Al Al Al Al Al
(98%) (96%) (94%) (92%) (90%)
Cu Cu Cu Cu Cu
(2%) (2%) (2%) (2%) (2%)
Sample Code and and and and
SiC SiC SiC SiC
(1%) (2%) (3%) (4%)
TiC TiC TiC TiC
(1%) (2%) (3%) (4%)
BGU01 BGU02 BGU03 BGU04 BGU05
2. Experimental procedure 2.1. Material In this aluminum alloy AA6082 is used as a matrix material. The reinforcements are Titanium carbide and silicon carbide. Al and Cu (pure copper) as a matrix of base materials (98% purity), SiC (average particle of 300 mesh, 99% purity) and TiC (average particle of 300 mesh, 98% purity) were added as reinforcement in powder form. The chemical composition of Al-Cu alloy is shown in Table 1 and composition of different samples is shown in Table 2.
Fig. 1. XRD analysis of Al-Cu alloy.
2.2. Preparation of composites In the present study, aluminum metal matrix composites are prepared by stir casting technique. The stir casting technique is one of the important methods used in the metallurgical process. It is a process for fabrication of composites by stirring the molten base metal continuously with the help of mechanical stirrer. Aluminum alloy having 98% purity and copper ingots with 98% purity is used as the matrix material. TiC powder having 300 meshes with 99% purity and SiC powder having 300 meshes with 98% purity are used as the reinforcement materials. Firstly, in an electric furnace crucible is preheated at 500 °C for 15 min to remove the moisture. After that, Aluminum ingots are put in the crucible and temperature is raised up to 750°C. Reinforcement were preheated in the muffle furnace at 600 °C for 25 min to remove moisture and then mixture of TiC and SiC reinforcement was added into the molten metal and stirred at 300 rpm for 45 minutes. The furnace temperature is raised up to 1050 °C to ensure proper mixing of Al matrix with reinforcement particles. Then molten metal is poured in the die for solidification. Five samples were prepared with different compositions. Further, operations on lathe machine are done for sample preparation. Double disc polishing machine is used for polishing the samples. 3. Result and discussion 3.1. X-ray diffraction X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of Al-Cu alloy and reinforced Al-Cu alloy with 2% TiC and 2% SiC has been shown in Fig. 1 and
Fig. 2. XRD analysis of Sample BGU03.
Fig. 2. Angle range carried out for XRD study is 20⁰-80⁰ using Nifilter and CuKa radiation on Rigaku desktop Miniflex II X-ray diffractometer. Each and every peak of spectra has been analyzed individually. The peaks in XRD spectra reveal that SiC and TiC has been successfully incorporated in Al-Cu alloy. The broadening of XRD peaks suggests the existence of stress inside the sample [19]. A little shift of XRD peaks towards increasing value of 2h suggests the existence of compressive strain inside the reinforced samples. The grain size has been calculated using Scherrer’s formula which is
Table 1 Composition of Al (AA6082). Element
Aluminum
Mn
Si
Cu
Mg
Cr
Zn
Ti
%
95.2–98.3%
0.4–1.0%
0.7–1.3%
0.1% max
0.6–1.2%
0.25% max
0.2% max
0.1% max
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D¼
0:9k b cos ðhÞ
where, D is the grain size, k is the 1.54 Angstroms (Cu-Ka), h is the diffraction angle [20]. Pristine Al-Cu alloy initially had grain size of 49.50 nm whereas on adding 2% TiC and 2% SiC the grain size reduced to 40.31 nm.
in Fig. 4. It is found that with the increase in the reinforcement content there is a decrease in the density of specimens. Composites reinforced with TiC and SiC exhibit less density than the Al-Cu alloy. Density of a material depends on many factors such as particle size, nature of reinforcement, shape and fraction [23]. Geometrical density is calculated for each sample by calculating its mass and volume. Formula used for density calculation was
Volume ¼ pr 2 h
3.2. Optical microscopy Microstructure of any material plays an important role in the evaluation of mechanical properties of that material [21]. Microstructure of composites was investigated on optical microscopy by Dewinter at 60X magnification. It is found that there is uniform distribution of TiC and SiC particles in the Al-Cu alloy metal matrix. Fig. 3 shows the microstructure of Al-Cu alloy reinforced TiC and SiC. Fig. 3 (a) BGU02 shows the uniform dispersion of TiC and SiC particles and Fig. 3 (b) BGU03, Figure (c) BGU04 and (d) BGU05 shows TiC and SiC particles are uniformly distributed in the Al-Cu matrix. The various particles i.e. TiC and SiC present in the composite have been marked by arrows in optical micrographs. From the investigation, it is found that increase in reinforcement content improves the microstructure of composites. In Fig. 3 (a) BGU02 specimen shows the TiC and SiC and Al-Cu matrix particles present in the composite and Fig. 3 (b) shows the number of marked reinforced particles present in BGU03 is more than the BGU02 because of higher amount of reinforcement content in BGU03. Fig. 3 (c) BGU04 shows the micrograph in which TiC and SiC are uniformly distributed in Al-Cu matrix. Fig. 3 (d) BGU05 is observed with the agglomeration of reinforcement. The microstructure of BGU05 shows more TiC and SiC particles, present at higher content of reinforcement But, the agglomeration between reinforced particles is also observed at higher reinforcement content. It can be stated that when the reinforcement is increased after a certain concentration, agglomeration between reinforced particles can occur. Uniform dispersion of reinforcement particles can be seen which helps to improve the mechanical and tribological properties of composites [22]. 3.3. Density and hardness Density of the composites having different reinforcement content is shown in the combined bar graph of density and hardness
3
Density ¼
mass
v olume
ð1Þ ð2Þ
Generally, ceramic particles are hard in nature and the decreasing trend in the density of composite is because of the coarse nature of TiC-SiC particles [24]. Material reinforced with ceramic particles possesses low densities because of the less theoretical density of ceramic particles as compared to conventional metals and alloys [25]. Ceramic particles consist of high densities due to the presence of volatile material. There are more void spaces in the coarse particles as compared to fine particles, which results in lesser volume and hence density is less [26]. Hardness of composites was tested on Vickers hardness testing machine. The Vickers hardness was performed on the polished sample with a constant load of 10 N with the sample size (4 15 mm). It is found that hardness of the composite reinforced with the TiC and SiC is higher than the aluminum alloy matrix. Al-Cu alloy sample BGU01 shows the hardness value of 49.8 HV and sample BGU02 shows the value 98.3 HV. Generally, ceramic particles are hard in nature due to the presence of both the covalent bond and ionic bond. The presence of ionic bond makes them hard as there is large amount of energy required to break them. In the presence of hard ceramic particles, plastic deformation has been resisted in the Al matrix. This is the main reason where TiC and SiC reinforced composite shows higher hardness and increase the mechanical properties. In composites, reinforcement particles act as a bonding agent which increases the strength of matrix. There is increase in hardness of composites due to the strong interfacial bonding of matrix material with reinforcement. 3.4. Wear rate Wear resistance of composite samples was tested by Pin-OnDisc machine with data acquisition system at room temperature without any lubrication on sample size of (15 25 mm) at different loads of 10 N, 20 N, 30 N and 40 N. Wear resistance of the
Fig. 3. Optical micrographs of sample (a) BGU02 (b) BGU03 (c) BGU04 and (d) BGU05 at 60X magnification.
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Fig. 4. Vickers hardness and density of different specimens.
Fig. 5. Wear rate of samples at load of 10 N, 20 N, 30 N and 40 N.
material is the property of a material which resists the material loss by the action of friction. It is found that the wear losses are higher in the Al-Cu alloy than the reinforced Al-Cu alloy metal matrix composites which is shown in Fig. 5. Basically, TiC and SiC particles resist the abrasion and plastic deformation during the wear tests. Wear rate is related to the hardness but it is not always dependent on the material’s hardness [27]. It is influenced by many other factors like toughness and reinforcement dispersion in the matrix. From the wear study, the decrease in wear rate can be seen due to the strong interfacial bonding between the reinforcement and matrix. It is found that the wear rate increases at higher loads. At the higher loads coefficient of friction is higher which increases the wear rate of composites. Wear rate of composites reinforced with SiC and TiC possess less wear rates than the Al-Cu alloy [28]. 4. Conclusion In this experimental study, aluminum matrix composite was prepared with varying Al-Cu/TiC-SiC content by using stir casting fabrication process. X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy, density, hardness and wear rate of composites were studied. Based on the experimental results, the following conclusions can be stated:
X-ray diffraction results of metal matrix composites reveal that there is no reaction between Al-Cu matrix with TiC-SiC reinforcements. In microstructural study, it is found that there is proper distribution of reinforcement particles in Al-Cu alloy. Microstructure shows that there is uniform dispersion of reinforcement particles at higher reinforcement contents. The density of the material depends upon the nature, fraction and size of the reinforcement particles. Density of Al-Cu matrix composites reinforced with TiC and SiC decreases with the increase in the reinforcement content. Minimum density is 2.257 g/cm3 found at 4% reinforcement content. Addition of TiC and SiC particles decreases the density of material. In the present study density of composites is decreasing due to the volatile nature of ceramic particles. Addition of TiC-SiC particles in the Al-Cu alloy matrix increases the hardness of the composites. Maximum hardness is obtained at 10 wt% of reinforcement in the Al matrix. Generally composite reinforced with ceramic particles possess higher hardness value as they resist deformation during the mechanical characterization. The addition of TiC-SiC particles in Al–Cu alloy matrix improves the wear resistance of composites by reducing the wear loss during the wear test. Composites reinforced with ceramic
Please cite this article as: M. Aktar Zahid Sohag, P. Gupta, N. Kondal et al., Effect of ceramic reinforcement on the microstructural, mechanical and tribological behavior of Al-Cu alloy metal matrix composite, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.08.179
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Please cite this article as: M. Aktar Zahid Sohag, P. Gupta, N. Kondal et al., Effect of ceramic reinforcement on the microstructural, mechanical and tribological behavior of Al-Cu alloy metal matrix composite, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.08.179