The effect of weight percentage of silicon carbide on mechanical behavior of aluminum metal matrix composite

Project Abstract

Metal matrix composites (MMCs) are advanced materials that exhibit superior mechanical properties compared to conventional metals. Among various types of MMCs, aluminum matrix composites (AMCs) have gained significant attention due to their lightweight nature and high strength-to-weight ratio. In this study, the effect of weight percentage of silicon carbide (SiC) on the mechanical behavior of aluminum metal matrix composites was investigated. The fabrication of the composites was carried out using the stir casting method, where commercially pure aluminum was used as the matrix material, and SiC particles were incorporated as the reinforcement phase. Different weight percentages of SiC (ranging from 5% to 20%) were added to the aluminum matrix to study the influence of varying reinforcement content on the mechanical properties of the composites. The mechanical behavior of the fabricated composites was evaluated through tensile testing, hardness testing, and impact testing. The results indicated that the addition of SiC particles led to a significant improvement in the mechanical properties of the composites. An increase in the weight percentage of SiC resulted in enhanced tensile strength, hardness, and impact resistance of the composites. Microstructural analysis was conducted using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to examine the distribution of SiC particles within the aluminum matrix. It was observed that a higher weight percentage of SiC promoted better dispersion of the reinforcement phase, leading to improved mechanical properties. The microstructural analysis also revealed a good interfacial bonding between the SiC particles and the aluminum matrix, which contributed to the overall strengthening mechanism of the composites. Finite element analysis (FEA) was employed to simulate the mechanical behavior of the composites under different loading conditions. The FEA results were in good agreement with the experimental findings, further validating the enhanced mechanical performance of the SiC-reinforced aluminum composites. Overall, this study highlights the significant influence of the weight percentage of silicon carbide on the mechanical behavior of aluminum metal matrix composites. The results demonstrate that the proper selection of SiC content can effectively tailor the mechanical properties of the composites, making them promising materials for various engineering applications requiring high strength and lightweight characteristics.

Project Overview

<p> </p><div><p><strong>INTRODUCTION</strong></p><p>The rapid development in the automobile and aircraft industries requires among other things, the integration of unique materials for design purposes that reduce fuel consumption to preserve the dwindling hydrocarbon resources without compromising other attributes such as safety, performance, recyclability and cost. Similarly, the current trend of materials in car industry is towards replacing metal parts more and more by these unique materials in order to improve the fuel economy and reduce the weight of the vehicles. These categories of unique materials include composite materials which are widely used in aerospace, automotive, electronics and medical industries. Composites are materials in which the desirable properties of separate materials are combined by mechanically or metallurgically binding them together. Each of the components retains its structure and characteristic, but the composite generally possesses better properties. Composite materials offer superior properties to conventional alloys for various applications as they have high strength, low weight, high modulus, low ductility, high wear resistance, high thermal conductivity and low thermal expansion.</p><p></p></div><h3></h3><br> <br><p></p>