LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents a review of the literature data available on the effect of

various reinforcements in different proportions, their size and volume fraction. The

reinforcements can be combined with the different matrices, resulting in large composite

systems. Furthermore, several different processing routes, such as powder metallurgy, stir

casting, squeeze casting, hot extrusions etc.

K R Jayadevan[1] analyzed about the stir casting process on sic composite and concluded

that clustering of reinforcement particles, wettability of reinforcement (SiC) in molten

aluminium are the prime concern in the production of composites through stir casting.

Further, the studies clearly show that mechanical properties of stir cast composite depend

upon factors like fabrication techniques, volume fraction, shape and size of reinforcement

particles and the distribution and properties of constituents. Also, it is evident that addition of

reinforcement up to a particular level increases the mechanical properties. But composites

fracture toughness is decreased by the addition of reinforcement. To improve fracture

toughness it is necessary that reinforcement should be uniformly distributed.

J.Jebeen Moses [2] Studied about the effect of sic on the composite material with different

proportions and developed a fairly homogeneous aluminum metal matrix,the distribution of

sic is observed to be intra granular.The interface between the sic particle and the aluminium

matrix was clean without the presence of reaction products, pores and voids. The increase in

SiC content progressively ,shifted the fracture mode from ductile to brittle.

Prabhat kumar sinha[3] focused on the behavior of aluminium silicon carbide (Al-SiC)

hybrid metal matrix composites. The study was aimed at evaluating the mechanical properties
of Aluminium in the presence of silicon carbide with different weight percentages of silicon

carbide (10%, 15%, 20%) combinations. Consequently aluminium metal matrix composite

combines and exhibit huge strength of the reinforcement with the toughness of the matrix to

achieve a combination of desirable properties not available in any single conventional

material. The compositions were added up to the ultimate level and stir casting method was

used for the fabrication of aluminium metal matrix composites. To investigate the properties

of Al-SiC, experiments have been conducted by varying weight fraction of SiC (10%, 15%

and 20%) while keeping all other parameters constant. The results indicate the behavior and

properties of material is quite successful to obtain exact use of aluminum silicon carbide

according to the requirement. the elongation tends to decreases according to the increase in

weight percentage of silicon carbide and hence it leads to increase in hardness.

R.D.Shelke[4] Analyzed that according to recent scenario, Stir casting is most efficient and

effective in all aspects such as cost, simplicity of operation, distribution of particles etc.

compared to all other composite manufacturing methods. Stir casting method is suitable up to

30 wt % of reinforcement material. Most of Al Alloys supports reinforcement of material and

due to this, the properties of metal material increases. Some Alloys supports reinforcement

upto 50% of wt.% but increase in properties is limited to some wt%.In case of Aluminium,

the properties gets decreased after wt% of SiC crosses 25%.

N.Parthipan[5] Analyzed the hardness and tensile properties of Aluminium Alloy Al6061

reinforced with Silicon Carbide and Fly ash to improve the strength of the piston material.

There will be several failures occurring in the piston due to continuous working. To eradicate

the failure, the composition of aluminium alloy material is made through the stir casting

technique in various composition and tested as per ASTM standard size. Aluminium alloy
will have the good weight to strength ratio. It implies that the Aluminium silicon carbide

material exhibits less weight and more strength. The base material Al6061 with reinforcement

of SiC, Al2O3 for increasing the hardness and their tribological properties.

R. I. Ganguly[6] Conducted experiments and studied the properties of Al6061 reinforced with

insitu ceramic mixture (SiC).The strength values for Al-6061-fly ash (FA) composites are

35% higher than that of the Al-6061 alloy.mThe unique property of the developed alloy

composite is due to harder SiC particle reinforcement. SiC in the form of whiskers have

improved strength as well as specific strength.

Soheil Mahdavi[7] Investigated Aluminum matrix composites reinforced with SiC particles

are a unique class of advanced engineered materials that have been developed to use in

tribological applications. The stir casting and the powder metallurgy synthesizing processes

are combined into an integrated net shape forming process. Homogenous distribution of the

SiC particles within the powder mixtures and the hybrid composites is clear from the SEM

images. The results also show that the SiC particles decrease the compressibility of the hybrid

powders and improve the hardness of composites. The SiC particles are distributed uniformly

within the matrix alloy using Stir Casting method. The coefficient of friction is decreased by

increasing SiC content up to 30 vol.%, and it will be minimum at 30 vol.% SiC contained

hybrid composite.

F. Akhlaghi[8] Studied the effect of size of silicon carbide particles on properties of

composites with SiC particles. Composites are processed by In situ Powder Metallurgy

technique(IPM). The IPM method is a combination of the stir casting and powder metallurgy

(P/M) synthesizing processes in an integrated net shape forming process. It is well known
that the production method has a strong influence on the mechanical and properties of such

composites. It was found that the increased SiC particle size reduced the hardness of

composites. The higher hardness values obtained for composites as compared with the base

alloy compact is due to the presence of hard SiC particles.

M. Velmurugan[9] Investigated tensile, compression and impact characterization of SiC,

Al2O3 reinforced Aluminium 6061 matrix composite. Hybrid matrix composite fabrication

was done by stir casting method. The tensile strength of aluminum composites was studied

and the maximum tensile strength observed at 20 wt% of SiC. The maximum yield strength

observed at 20 wt% of SiC and maximum fracture stress observed at 20 wt% of SiC. On

increasing the amount of SiC into the matrix, the ceramic will develop a strong interface bond

with the matrix and this bond, in turn, improves the properties of composites.

Gaurav Saini[10] Studied composites made of Aluminium6061 and SiC has been chosen as

matrix and reinforcement material. Experiments have been conducted by varying weight

fraction of SiC (2.5%, 5%, and 10%) while keeping all other parameters constant. The results

indicated that the developed method is quite successful to obtain uniform dispersion of

reinforcement in the matrix. An increasing trend of Tensile Test with increase in weight

percentage of SiC has been observed. The results obatained are good because the load at

Yield point, Ultimate load, Elongation is gradually increasing with increase in SiC percent in

the composites.

S. Boopathy[11] Studied the change in the mechanical behavior of aluminium alloy 6061

with different weight percentage of Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Alumina (Al2O3) ceramic
powders and change in processing temperature. The purpose of designing Metal Matrix

Composite is to figure the desired qualities of metals and ceramics. The fabrication of the

MMC was done by stir casting process. The tensile test, hardness test and impact test were

performed on these composite samples to study the mechanical behavior. Tensile strength

value is higher for the samples made at 750oC. These samples exhibit better wettability and

little agglomeration of particles which impede the dislocation of molecules. The sample with

more percentage of SiC possesses higher tensile strength. The sample with more percentage

of alumina possesses increased percentage of elongation.

C. S. P. Rao[12] Studied that the ceramic particles reinforced aluminum composites are

termed as new generation material. Particle reinforced composites have a better plastic

forming capability than that of the whisker or fiber reinforced ones, and thus they have

emerged as most sought after material with cost advantage and they are also known for

excellent heat and wear resistance applications. This paper is aimed to present the

experimental results of the studies conducted regarding hardness, tensile strength properties

of Al6061-SiC composites. Microhardness of the composites found increased with increased

filler content and the increase in hardness of Al6061-SiC composites. The tensile strength

properties of the composites are found higher than that of base matrix and Al6061-SiC

composites superior tensile strength properties than that of Al7075- Al2O3 composites.

Azad Alam [13] study is focused on the fabrication of aluminium 6061 based metal matrix

composites, Reinforced with silicon carbide and Al2O3 by stir casting technique. The

percentage of one reinforcement particulate is kept constant and varying other. The various

mechanical tests like tensile strength test, hardness test, wear test and Impact strength
performed on the samples obtained by stir casting technique for comparison purpose. The

result indicated that there is an increase in the value of tensile strength, hardness value and

Impact strength of newly developed composite having (SiC + Al2O3) particulates in

comparison to the Aluminium. Hardness of the SiC & Al2O3 filled Al6061 alloy composites

found increased with increased ceramic particulates content.

Ajay Singh Verma[14] Studied that Particulate Aluminium Metal Matrix Composites possess

high specific strength, greater strength to weight ratio at elevated temperature. Stir casting is

cheapest and simple route for fabrication of Aluminium Metal Matrix composites. Numerous

types of reinforcements in particulate like SiC, Al2O3 is used to improve the metallurgical as

well as mechanical properties as compared to its base matrix. reported that Metal Matrix

Composites possess high specific strength, greater strength to weight ratio at elevated

temperature, greater wear resistance as compare to matrix phase.

Prashant Kumar Suragimath[15] attempted to develop a conventional low cost method of

producing Aluminium MMCs and to obtain homogeneous dispersion of reinforced material.

To achieve this objective stir casting technique has been adopted. Aluminium6061, SiC, Fly

Ash has been chosen as matrix and reinforcing material respectively. Experiment has been

conducted by varying weight fraction of Fly Ash (5% and 15%) while keeping SiC

constant(5%). The result shown that the increase in addition of Fly Ash increases the Tensile

Strength, Impact Strength, Wear Resistance of the specimen and decreases the percentage of

Elongation. It appears in this study that Tensile Strength starts increases with increase in

weight percentage of Fly Ash. It found that elongation tends to decrease with increasing

particles weight percentage which confirms that addition of SiC and Fly Ash increases the
brittleness. The impact strength of Hybrid composite increases with increase in weight

percentage of Fly Ash.

Swapnil S.Mukadam[16] Fabricated Al Composites by Stircasting method by varying weight

percentages of samples by increasing SiC and Fly ash percent accordingly decreasing Al6061

percent. The hardness, wear test and tensile test were performed to study the mechanical

behavior of all the test specimens. The results reveal that it improves the micro hardness and

tensile strength. From the test result the tensile strength of different wt.% composite sample is

increased gradually and addition of 5% SiC+ 5% fly ash sample is to get higher tensile

strength compared with other Samples that has only Al6061. Al6061 with SiC + fly ash

composite material is less in weight than the Al of the same dimensions. This indicates that

the AMMCs having low weight and high strength.

Omkarnath Mishra[17] emphasized the production of metal-matrix Al6061 & SiC alloy with

fly ash composites by the continuous stir casting method. Samples are prepared as per the

standard and finally tested by hardness using Brinell hardness machine, impact strength by

using Charpy machine, Compression test by using Universal Testing Machine. Al6061- SiC

Alloy reinforced with Fly ash of irregular shape has shown more Impact strength, Micro

hardness and the one reinforced with fly ash of cenospherical shape has shown more

Compression strength.

Achutha Kini[18] Studied the effect of Silicon carbide on Stir cast Aluminium Metal Matrix

Composites. Different researchers have been made to consolidate some of the aspects of
mechanical and wear behavior of Aluminium Metal Matrix Composites reinforced with

Silicon carbide particles in both untreated and precipitation hardened condition. The

Aluminum metal matrix composite material has been prepared by stir casting method.

Wettability is increased due to the presence of ceramic like SiC.

David Raja Selvam. J[19] focuses on the fabrication of AMCs reinforced with various weight

percentages of SiC particulates and a constant weight percentage of Fly Ash by modified stir

casting route. The wettability of SiC and Fly ash particles in the matrix was improved by

adding magnesium into the melt. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the

fabricated AMCs were analyzed. The mechanical properties like hardness and tensile strength

were improved with the increase in weight percentage of SiC particulates with constant

weight percentage of Fly Ash in the aluminum matrix. The hardness of the composites were

increased with respect to addition of weight percentage of SiC and constant weight

percentage of Fly ash particles. The reinforcement of particles has enhanced the tensile

strength of aluminum matrix composites.

S.M. Seyed Reihani [20] Investigated the microstructural features, aging behavior,

mechanical properties and wear characteristics of the composites with Al6061 as metal

matrix and 30vol% SiC. Higher strength and lower wear rates were observed in the composite

materials than the unreinforced aluminum alloy part. However, a marked decrease in ductility

of the composites arising from adding of SiC particles was obtained. The thermal mismatch

between the metal matrix and the reinforcement increases the dislocation density of the

matrix. The mechanical strength of Al6061– 30vol% SiC composite is superior to those of
the unreinforced material. Decreasing the particle size of the reinforcement phase leads to

better mechanical properties.

R. Assadifard [21] analyzed the variation of properties of SiC reinforced Al6061 composites.

Microstructure by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technique & hardness of materials

were investigated and noted. The effect of mechanical alloying process on hardness is more

significant compared to reinforcement particles. The evolution of relative density and

hardness with milling time is due to the morphological and microstructural changes imposed

on the composite powder. The particles tend to agglomerate to form coarse particles and the

SiC reinforcements were embedded into Al6061 matrix to form composite powders.

Hardness of powders maybe affected by two factors : Addition of reinforcement particles and

MA process.