Investigation of micro-structural and mechanical properties of metal matrix composite A359/B₄C through electromagnetic stir casting

摘要

In recent years, instead of the conventional structural materials, aluminium-based metal matrix composites (MMCs) are being widely used in aerospace and automotive industries because of their valuable engineering qualities, such as, specific strength, light weight and greater stiffness. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to fabricate MMC of an alloy of aluminium A359, reinforced with B₄C micron-size particles using electromagnetic stir casting method. Mechanical stir casting route was also used to fabricate another sample to compare the experimental results. The fabricated samples of MMC are analyzed by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) are also studied to validate the process of fabrication.. Different mechanical tests for tensile strength, toughness, hardness and porosity were carried out for both the samples. The results showed that the electromagnetic stir casting could produce uniformly distributed reinforced particles of B₄C particles in A359 alloy as compared to mechanical stirring, which, in turn, could improve mechanical properties.