FABRICATION AND TESTING OF ULTRASONICALLY ASSISTED STIR CAST AA 5083-Sicp COMPOSITES

Aluminum Matrix composites (AMCs) are light weight, high-strength materials with potential application in areas such as automobile, aerospace, defence, engineering and other industries. AMCs are projected to significantly reduce the overall weight of the vehicles and aircraft while maintaining satisfactory structural strength. Reinforcement of micron or nano-sized range particles with aluminium matrix yields improved mechanical and physical properties in composite materials. The distribution of nano sized reinforcing particles also changes morphology and interfacial characteristics of nanocomposites. In this study, AA 5083 alloy micron and nano SiC composites have been fabricated by Ultrasonic assisted stir casting. Different weight % of SiC particles Micron (3, 5, 8, and 10 wt%) and Nano (1, 2, 3 and 4 wt%) were used for synthesis of composites. SEM microstructure shows uniform distribution of SiC particles with agglomeration at some places. Various properties of composites like tensile strength, compressive strength, hardness, ductility, density were measured. Results revealed that the tensile strength, compressive strength and hardness of composites increases with increase the weight % of SiC particles and particle size reduction. However ductility of composites with micron SiC particles reduced in large value with increasing the weight % of SiC however with addition of nano SiC particles only a small reduction in ductility was observed. The application of ultrasonic vibration on the composite during melting not only refined the grain structure of the matrix, but also improved the distribution of nano-sized reinforcement.