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GREY RELATIONAL ANALYSIS APPROACH FOR OPTIMIZATION OF WEAR

CHARACTERISTIC OF HYBRID MMCS

A Dissertation
Submitted to the

Department of Mechanical Engineering


in
Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree
of

MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
MANUFACTURING ENGINEERING
SUBMITTED BY
DHARMENDRA KUMAR SINGH
(ROLL NO. 123504)

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

Dr. L.KRISHNANAND
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY


WARANGAL-506004 (TELANGANA)
2012-2014

Dissertation Approval for M.Tech.

This project work entitled GREY RELATIONAL ANALYSIS APPROACH FOR


OPTIMIZATION OF WEAR CHARACTERISTIC OF HYBRID MMCS. by
DHARMENDRA KUMAR SINGH, Roll. No. 123504 is approved for the degree of Master
of Technology in Manufacturing Engineering.

Examiners
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Supervisor
--------------------------------

Chairman
--------------------------------

Date:
Place: Warangal

Department of Mechanical Engineering


National Institute of Technology
Warangal-506004

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project titled GREY RELATIONAL ANALYSIS APPROACH
FOR OPTIMIZATION OF WEAR CHARACTERISTIC OF HYBRID MMCS is a
bonafide work done by Mr Dharmendra Kumar Singh (Roll No 123504), in partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the award of degree of Master of Technology in
(Manufacturing Engineering) and submitted to the Department of Mechanical Engineering,
National Institute of Technology, Warangal.

Dr. A. Venu Gopal

Dr. N.Venkaiah

Head of Production Engineering Division

Course Co-ordinator

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Department of Mechanical Engineering

NIT Warangal

NIT Warangal

Dr. L. Krishnanand
Project Guide & Head of the Department
Department of Mechanical Engineering
NIT Warangal

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY


WARANGAL 506004, Telangana

DECLARATION

I declare that this written submission represents my ideas in my own words and where
others' ideas or words have been included, I have adequately cited and referenced the original
sources. I also declare that I have adhered to all principles of academic honesty and integrity
and have not misrepresented or fabricated or falsified any idea / data / fact / source in my
submission. I understand that any violation of the above will be cause for disciplinary action
by the Institute and can also evoke penal action from the sources which have thus not been
properly cited or from whom proper permission has not been taken when needed.

Dharmendra Kumar Singh


NIT Warangal

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I take this golden opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks and my profound sense of
gratitude to my project guide Dr.L.Krishnanand and Head of Mechanical Engineering
Department for their valuable suggestions, guidance and encouragement throughout my thesis
work.
I express my sincere thanks to Dr.A.Venu Gopal, Head of Production Engineering Division
for his valuable suggestions, constructive cooperation and encouragement at various stages of
the project work.
I express my sincere thanks to Dr. N. Venkaiah, coordinator M.Tech. Manufacturing
engineering, National Institute of Technology- Warangal, to provide facilities to carry out the
experimental works.
I express my sincere thanks to Dr. Ashit Khanre, Asst. Professor of Metallurgy Department
to provide facilities to carry out the experimental works.
I express my sincere thanks to Mr.K.Satyanarayana Ph.D. Scholar for his help during the
project work.
I express my sincere thanks to Mr. S.Sai Phd. Scholar Metallurgy Department for his support
and guidance throughout my project work.
I cannot close these prefatory remarks without expressing my deep sense of gratitude and
reverence to the authors of the various papers I have used and referred to in order to complete
my research work.
Last but not least, I also express my wholehearted gratitude in huge measure to my family, all
my classmates and friends, for their everlasting help, encouragement and moral support
throughout my entire work.

Dharmendra Kumar Singh


Roll No. 123504

ABSTRACT
Aluminium Metal Matrix Hybrid Composite is relatively new material that has proved
its position in aerospace, automobile industries and other engineering design application due
to their low density and strong corrosion resistance and wear resistance, higher hardness, low
thermal coefficient of expansion as compared to conventional metals and alloys. The excellent
mechanical properties of these materials and relatively low production cost make them a very
attractive for a variety of applications both from scientific and technological viewpoints.
The aim involved in designing metal matrix hybrid composite materials is to combine the
desirable attributes of metals and Ceramics. Need for improved performance has lead to the
design and selection of newer variants of the composites.
Present work is focused on the study of behavior of AA6061/SiCp/C composites
produced by the powder metallurgy process by taking different Reinforcement C-% by weight
(0, 3, 5, and 7%). Sintered density, Hardness Test, SEM test, EDAX and Wear test
calculations have been performed on the samples obtained by the powder metallurgy process.
Experiments have been designed using L16 Taguchi orthogonal array to acquire the
wear data. Grey relational analysis approach is used for optimization of process parameters in
order to obtain minimum wear of the component. Conformation experiment has also been
conducted using optimal combination of process parameters which is found by analyzing
GRG value by Taguchi analysis in order to verify the results. An analysis of variance is
employed to investigate the influence of four controlling parameters, viz., SiC + C (Graphite)
composition, normal load, sliding distance & sliding speed on dry sliding wear of the
composites. The optimal combination of the four controlling parameters has been obtained for
minimum wear loss. The micro-structural study and EDAX of the produced sample and worn
out surface has also been performed.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENT

PAGE NO.

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

III

LIST OF FIGURES

IV

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF NOTATION

VI

Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1


1.1

Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) .......................................................................... 2

1.1.1

Types Of MMCs ................................................................................................ 3

1.1.2

Applications Of MMCs .................................................................................... 5

1.1.3

Necessity of MMCs . ....................................................................................... 7

1.2

Aluminium And Aluminium Alloys .......................................................................... 7

1.2.1

Classification Of Aluminium Alloys ................................................................... 8

1.2.2

International Designation System For Aluminium Alloys .................................. 8

1.2.3

Chemical Composition Of AA6061 Aluminium Alloys ................................... 10

1.3
1.3.1

Reinforcements ........................................................................................................ 10

1.4

Particulate Reinforcement ................................................................................. 11


Production Of Aluminium MMCs ......................................................................... 11

1.4.1

Liquid State Processing ..................................................................................... 12

1.4.2

Solid State Processing ....................................................................................... 15

1.5

Interface ................................................................................................................... 17

1.6

Basic Terminology Used In Experimental Analysis ............................................... 17

1.7

Hardness .................................................................................................................. 18

1.8

Wear And Wear Mechanism ................................................................................... 18

1.8.1

Wear................................................................................................................... 18
I

1.8.2

Types Of Wear................................................................................................... 19

1.8.3

Wear Mechanism ............................................................................................... 19

1.9

Importance of Hybrid MMC..............................................................................20

2.0

Wear study on MMCs.........................................................................................21

Chapter 2 Literatu Survey .................................................................................................... 22


2.1

Literature Survey ..................................................................................................... 22

2.2

Motivation For The Project ..................................................................................... 25

2.3

Challenges And Opportunities ................................................................................ 26

2.4

Objectives ................................................................................................................ 27

2.5

Problem Statement................................................................................................... 28

Chapter 3 Experimental Procedure ..................................................................................... 29


3.1
3.1.1

Work Material.......................................................................................................... 29
Chemical Composition Of Base Alloy Powder ................................................. 29
Fabrication Of Al MMCs Pallets By Powder Metallurgy ...................................... 29

3.2
3.2.1
3.3

Powder Metallurgy ............................................................................................ 31


Physical Properties Of Produced Pallets ................................................................. 38

3.3.1

Density Of Produced Pallets .............................................................................. 38

3.3.2

Theoretical Density............................................................................................ 38

3.3.3

Apparent Density ............................................................................................... 38

3.3.4

Green Density .................................................................................................... 38

3.3.5

Sintered Density ................................................................................................ 42

3.4

Densification Factor ................................................................................................ 42

3.5

Mechanical Behaviour Of Produced Pallets ............................................................ 39

3.5.1
3.6

Hardness Of Produced Pallets Using Rockwell Tester ..................................... 39


Wear And Wear Mechanism ................................................................................... 41

3.6.1

Wear................................................................................................................... 41

3.6.2

Wear Mechanism ............................................................................................... 41


II

Chapter 4 Methodology48
4.1 Taguchi methodology.48
4.2 Signal to Noise Ratio..48
4.3 Design Of Experiment48
4.4 Taguchi based Grey Relational Analysis to Optimize the Multi Response.49

4.5 Grey Relational Analysis..50


4.6 Predictive Equation53
Chapter 5 Analysis Of Results And Discussion ................................................................ 54
5.1

Density Of Produced Pallets .................................................................................... 54

5.1.1

Theoretical Density & Composition Of Each Composites ................................ 54

5.1.2

Sintered Density Of Produced Pallets .............................................................. 54

5.2

Densification Factor Of Produced Pallet ................................................................. 56

5.3

Hardness Test Using Rockwell Hardness Tester Wear Test Using Pin-On-Disk

Wear And Friction Tester .................................................................................................... 56


5.3.1
5.4

Process Parameters And Their Levels ............................................................... 57

5.5

Design Of Experiment For Wear Test by Taguchi Orthogonal L16 Array .... 57

5.5.1

Response Table for the given Taguchi L16 Orthogonal Array .............................. 58

5.6

Grey Relational Analysis for multiple response ................................................ 59

5.6.1

Taguchi Analysis for Wear Test ............................................................................ 60


Taguchi Analysis for GRG ............................................................................... 62

5.7

Microstructure Study ............................................................................................... 65

5.8

Wear Mechanism ..................................................................................................... 68

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 73
Future scope ........................................................................................................................... 74
References............................................................................................................................... 75

III

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No.

Description

Page Number

Figure 1 Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) Sector Study Scope ........................................... 1


Figure 2 Different Types of Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs)............................................. 4
Figure 3 Applications Of MMCs and Their Benifits in Existing Application ......................... 6
Figure 4 Various Steps Involved in Synthesis of Al-SiCp Composites by P/M Technique ... 16
Figure 5 Flow Chart of Powder Metallurgy Method and Specimen Analysis ........................ 29
Figure 6 Powder Production by Gas Atomization ................................................................... 32
Figure 7 SEM Image of Raw Materials Powders .................................................................... 33
Figure 8 Electronic Weighing Balance .................................................................................... 35
Figure 9 Terbula Blender ......................................................................................................... 35
Figure 10 Die used for Pallet Preparation ............................................................................... 36
Figure 11 Green Pallet Produced after Cold Die Compaction Placed in a Boat ..................... 36
Figure 12 Hydraulic Press for Compaction ............................................................................. 37
Figure 13 Steps in Sintering Geometry ................................................................................... 39
Figure 14 Property Change During Sintering Cycle ............................................................... 39
Figure 15 Inert Atmosphere Tubular Furnace ........................................................................ 39
Figure 16 Sintered Pallets Produced after Sintering Under N2 Atmosphere ........................... 40
Figure 17 Thermal Cycle for Microwave and Conventional Sintering of Al-Alloys .............. 40
Figure 18 Rockwell Hardness Tester....................................................................................... 43
Figure 19 Pallets after Hardness Test ...................................................................................... 43
Figure 20 Pin-on-Disk Wear and Friction Force Tester .......................................................... 45

IV

LIST OF TABLES
Table No.

Description

Page number

Table 1 Designation System for Aluminium Alloys ................................................................. 9


Table 2 Particle Size and Purity of Raw Material ..................................................................... 9
Table 3 Chemical Composition of AA6061 Aluminium Alloys ............................................. 10
Table 4 Some Important Reinforcement for Metal Matrix Composites .................................. 11
Table 5 Chemical Composition of Base Alloy (AA6061) for Composites ............................. 31
Table 6 Particle Size in Terms of Number of Mesh Vs Microns ............................................ 32
Table 7 Array Selector ............................................................................................................. 49
Table 8 L16 Orthogonal Array ................................................................................................ 49
Table 10 Weight and Composition of Plane AA6061(90%) + SiC (10%) ............................. 50
Table 11 Weight and Composition of AA6061 (87%) + SiC (10% )+C(3%)......................... 50
Table 12 Weight and Composition of AA6061 (85%) + SiC (10%)+C(5%).......................... 51
Table 13 Weight and Composition of AA6061 (83%) + SiC (10% )+C(7%)......................... 51
Table 14 Theoretical Density of Pallets .................................................................................. 52
Table 15 Sintered Density of Produced Pallets ....................................................................... 53
Table 15 Densification Factor of Produced Pallets ................................................................. 54
Table 16 Hardness Table for Produced Pallets at Different Conditions.................................. 56
Table 17 Process Parameters and Their Levels for Wear Test ................................................ 57
Table 18 L16 Orthogonal Array for wear test ......................................................................... 57
Table 19 Response Table for the given L16 Orthogonal Array.58
Table 20 Grey Relational Analysis for Multiple Responses..59
Table 21 GRG value of Experimental Run at Different Levels ............................................. 59
Table 22 Analysis of Variance of means for means of wear ................................................... 60
Table 23 Response Table for means of S/N Ratio .................................................................. 61
Table 24 Analysis of Variance of means for GRG .................................................................. 62
V

List of Notation

1. MMCs = Metal Matrix Composites


2. AMCs = Aluminium Matrix Composites
3. PMCs = Polymer Matrix Composites
4. PMMCs = Particulates Reinforced Metal Matrix Composites
5. PAMCs = Particulates Aluminium Matrix Composites
6. P/M Processing = Powder Metallurgy Processing
7. CFMMCs = Continuous Fibre Metal Matrix Composites
8. CFAMCs = Continuous Fibre Aluminium Matrix Composites
9. SFMMCs = Short Fibre Metal Matrix Composites
10. ANSI = American National Standard Institute
11. SiCp = Silicon Carbide Particles
12. Al2O3 = Aluminium Oxide
13. TiB2 = Titanium Boride
14. ISO = International Organization for Standardization
15. DF = Densification Factor
16. SD = Sintered Density
17. GD = Green Density
18. TD = Theoretical Density
19. AD = Apparent Density
20. BHN = Brinell Hardness Number
21. HRB = Hardness Rockwell B-Scale

VI

National Institute of Technology, Warangal

Mechanical Engineering Department

CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

1. INTRODUCTION:Composite materials are important engineering materials due to their outstanding


mechanical properties. Composites are materials in which the desirable properties of separate
materials are combined by mechanically or metallurgical 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 stiffness, strength and wear resistance. The
development of these materials started with the production of continuous-fiber-reinforced
composites. The high cost and difficulty of processing these composites restricted their
application and led to the development of discontinuously reinforced composites.
This study assesses the MMC technology base, detailing production capabilities, process
and product technology developments, the current marketplace, and future potential markets
and applications. Facilitators and barriers affecting the MMC sector are outlined, and
roadmaps of actions designed to enhance MMC development activities. Aluminium-silicon
alloys and aluminium-based metal matrix composites have found application in the
manufacture of various structural applications; automotive engine components such as
cylinder blocks, pistons and piston insert rings where adhesive wear (or dry sliding wear) is a
predominant process. Materials possessing high wear resistance (under dry sliding conditions)
are associated with a stable tribolayer on the wearing surface and the formation of fine
equiaxed wear debris. For adhesive wear, the influence of applied load, sliding speed, wearing
surface hardness, reinforcement fracture toughness and morphology are critical parameters in
relation to the wear regime encountered by the material. In this study contemporary wear
theories, issues related to counter face wear, and wear mechanisms are discussed. Figure 1
shows the MMCs scope in various sectors.

Figure 1: MMCs sector study scope


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1.1 Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs):Metal matrix composites (MMCs), like all composites; consist of at least two chemically
& physically distinct phases, suitably distributed to provide properties not obtainable with
either of the individual phases. Generally, there are two phases, e.g., a fibrous or particulate
phase, distributed in a metallic matrix. The composite generally has superior characteristics
than those of each of the individual components. Usually the reinforcing component is
distributed in the continuous or matrix component. When the matrix is a metal, the composite
is termed a metal-matrix composite (MMC). In MMCs, the reinforcement usually takes the
form of particles, whiskers, short fibers, or continuous fibers.
Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) have emerged as a class of material capable of
advanced structural, aerospace, automotive, electronic, thermal management and wear
applications. The MMCs have many advantages over monolithic metals including a higher
specific modulus, higher specific strength, better properties at elevated temperatures, lower
coefficients of thermal expansion and better wear resistance. However, on the debit side, their
toughness is inferior to monolithic metals and they are more expensive.
MMCs in general, consist of at least two components, the metal matrix and the
reinforcement. In all cases the matrix is defined as a metal, but pure metal is rarely used; it is
generally an alloy. The two most commonly used metal matrices are based on Aluminium and
Titanium. Both of these metals have comparatively low specific gravities and are available in
a variety of alloy forms. Although Magnesium is even lighter, its great affinity for oxygen
promotes atmospheric corrosion and makes it less suitable for many applications. Beryllium is
the lightest of all structural metal and has a tensile modulus higher than that of steel.
However, it suffers from extreme brittleness, which is the reason for its exclusion as one of
the potential matrix material. Nickel and Cobalt based super alloys have also been used as
matrices, but the alloying elements in these materials tend to accentuate the oxidation of fibres
at elevated temperatures.
Aluminium alloys, such as the 2000, 5000, 6000 and 7000 alloy series, are the most
commonly utilised materials in composite fabrication. Aluminium composites are widely
employed in the aerospace industry, automotive application & structural application. In the
present study we concern mainly on aluminium 6000 series (AA6061 aluminium
alloys+10%SiC) and the hybrid composites made by adding different weight % of graphite as
a reinforcement material.

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1.1.1 Types of Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs):All metal matrix composites have a metal or a metallic alloy as the matrix. The
reinforcement can be metallic or ceramic. In some unusual cases, the composite may consist
of a metallic alloy "reinforced" by a fiber reinforced polymer matrix composite.
MMCs reinforcement can be generally divided into three major categories:(i) Particle reinforced MMCs
(ii) Short fiber or whisker reinforced MMCs
(iii) Continuous fiber or sheet reinforced MMCs
The particulates reinforced metal matrix composites (PMMCs) is one of the new
structural materials, and a rapid development can be seen in recent years because of excellent
properties and wide application prospects in the near future. For several years research on
fabrication methods and material property estimations for particulates reinforced metal matrix
composites has been one of the focuses in composite fields, and many excellent research
results have been obtained. Various materials have been combined with each other and give
intended properties and are different from their base materials. Such composite materials
make this concept true and reinforcement in a matrix of this material contributes enhancement
properties. But, neither matrix nor reinforcement alone but only MMC can able to fulfil the
requirement. MMCs are exciting materials which find increasing applications in aerospace,
defence, transportation, communication, power, electronics, recreation, sporting, and
numerous other commercial and consumer products. Rapid advancement in the science of the
fibres, matrix materials, processing interface structure, bonding and their characteristics on
the final properties of the composite have taken place in the recent years. Even though they
have recently used but have more tremendous effect due to their useful properties like specific
strength, specific stiffness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance and elastic modulus etc.
These composites generally contain equiaxed ceramic reinforcements with an aspect ratio
less than about 5. Ceramic reinforcements are generally oxides or carbides or borides (Al 2O3
or SiCp or TiB2) and present in volume fraction less than 30% when used for structural and
wear resistance applications. In general, PAMCs are manufactured either by solid state (P/M
processing) or liquid state (stir casting, infiltration and in-situ) processes. PAMCs are less
expensive compared to CFAMCs. Mechanical properties of PAMCs are inferior compared to
whisker/short fibre/continuous fibre reinforced AMCs but far superior compared to
unreinforced aluminium alloys. These composites are isotropic in nature and can be subjected
to a variety of secondary forming operations including extrusion, rolling and forging.
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The Short fibre or whisker-reinforced metal matrix composites (SFMMCs) contain


reinforcements with an aspect ratio of greater than 5, but are not continuous. Short alumina
fibre reinforced aluminium matrix composites is one of the first and most popular AMCs to
be developed and used in pistons. These were produced by squeeze infiltration process. Figure
2 show the microstructure of short fibre reinforced AMCs. Whisker reinforced composites are
produced by either by PM processing or by infiltration route. Mechanical properties of
whisker reinforced composites are superior compared to particle or short fibre reinforced
composites. However, in the recent years usage of whiskers as reinforcements in AMCs is
fading due to perceived health hazards and, hence of late commercial exploitation of whisker
reinforced composites has been very limited. Short fibre reinforced AMCs display
characteristics in between that of continuous fibre and particle reinforced AMCs.
The Continuous fibre-reinforced metal matrix composites (CFMMCs) having
reinforcements are in the form of continuous fibres (of alumina, SiCp or carbon) with a
diameter less than 20 m. The fibres can either be parallel or pre woven, braided prior to the
production of the composite as shown in Figure 2. AMCs having fibre volume fraction up to
40% are produced by squeeze infiltration technique. More recently 3M Tm Corporation has
developed 60 vol.% alumina fibre (continuous fibre) reinforced composite having a tensile
strength and elastic stiffness of 1500 MPa and 240 GPa respectively. These composites are
produced by pressure infiltration route.

Figure 2: Different Types of Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs)


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1.1.2 Applications of Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs):Light alloy composite materials have, in automotive engineering, a high application
potential in the engine area (oscillating construction units: valve train, piston rod, piston and
piston pin; covers: cylinder head, crankshaft main bearing; engine block: part-strengthened
cylinder blocks). An example of the successful use of aluminium composite materials within
this range is the partially short-fiber reinforced aluminium alloy piston, in which the recess
range is strengthened by Al2O3 & SiCp short fibers. Comparable construction unit
characteristics are attainable only with the application of powder metallurgical aluminium
alloys or when using heavy iron pistons. The reason for the application of composite materials
is, as already described the improved high temperature properties. Potential applications are in
the area of undercarriages, e.g. transverse control arms and particle-strengthened brake disks,
which can be also applied in the area of rail mounted vehicles, e.g. for undergrounds and
railway (ICE). Some of the applications and their benefits in existing application are shown in
Figure 3 and discussed below:
I.

Drive shaft for people and light load motor vehicles:

Material: - AlMg1SiCu + 20 vol. % Al2O3P


Processing: - extrusion form cast feed material
Development aims: - high dynamic stability, high Youngs modulus (95 GPa), Low
density (2.95 g cm3), high fatigue strength (120 MPa), sufficient toughness, substitution of
steels.
II.

Vented passenger car brake disk:

Material: - G-AlSi12Mg + 20 vol. % SiCP


Processing: - sand or gravity die casting
Development aims: - high wear resistance (better than conventional cast iron brake
discs), low heat conductivity, substitution of iron materials.
III.

Disk brake calliper for passenger cars:

Material: - Aluminium alloy with Nextel ceramic fibre 610


Weight reduction: - 55 % compared to cast iron.
IV.

Longitudinal bracing beam (Stringer) for planes:

Material: -AlCu4Mg2Zr + 15 vol. % SiCP


Processing: - extrusion and forging of casted feed material
Development aims: - high dynamic stability, high Youngs modulus (100 GPa), low
density (2.8 g cm3), high strength, high fatigue strength (240 MPa), sufficient toughness
(19.9 MPa).
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Figure 3: Applications of MMCs & Their Benefits in Existing Application


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1.1.3 Necessity of Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) .


The answer to this question can be subdivided into two parts:(a) Advantages with respect to unreinforced metals and
(b) Advantages with respect to other composites such as polymer matrix composites (PMCs).
a) With respect to metals, MMCs offer the following advantages:i.

Major weight savings due to higher strength-to-weight ratio

ii.

Exceptional dimensional stability (compare, for example, SiCp / Al to Al)

iii.

Higher elevated temperature stability, i.e., creep resistance and

iv.

Significantly improved cyclic fatigue characteristics.

b) With respect to PMCs, MMCs offer these distinct advantages:-

i.

Higher strength and stiffness

ii.

Higher service temperatures

iii.

Higher electrical conductivity (grounding, space charging)

iv.

Higher thermal conductivity

v.

Better transverse properties

vi.

Improved joining characteristics

vii.

Radiation survivability (laser, UV, nuclear, etc.)

viii.

Little or no contamination (no out-gassing or moisture absorption problems).

1.2 Aluminium and Aluminium Alloys:Aluminium (Al) is a silvery white and ductile member of the poor metal group of
chemical elements. Al is an abundant, light and strong metal which has found many uses.
Like all composites, aluminium-matrix composites are not a single material but a family of
materials whose stiffness, strength to weight ratio, density, and thermal and electrical
properties can be tailored. The matrix alloy, the reinforcement material, the volume and shape
of the reinforcement, the location of the reinforcement, and the fabrication method can all be
varied to achieve required properties. Aluminium is the most abundant metal in the Earth's
crust, and the third most abundant element, after oxygen and silicon. It makes up about 8% by
weight of the Earths solid surface. Due to easy availability, High strength to weight
ratio, easy machinability, durable, ductile, malleability and theoretically 100% recyclability
without any loss of its natural properties a lot of scope is there for Al MMCs.
Aluminium Alloys with a wide range of properties are used in engineering structures.
Alloy systems are classified by a number system (ANSI) or by names indicating their main
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alloying constituents. Selecting the right alloy for a given application entails considerations of
its tensile strength, density, ductility, formability, workability, weld ability, and corrosion
resistance, to name a few. Aluminium alloys are used extensively in aircraft due to their high
strength-to-weight ratio. On the other hand, pure aluminium metal is much too soft for such
uses, and it does not have the high tensile strength that is needed for airplanes and helicopters.
Aluminum matrix composite (AMCs), that contain particle reinforcement have their
advantages such as isotropic distribution of the particles to be used in the engineering
applications. This distribution is generated during the fabrication processes by powder
metallurgy, compo-casting, squeeze casting, pressure-less infiltration, hot rolled extrusion etc.
Another consideration of AMCs is the influence of reinforcement particles on the corrosion
behavior. The high-strength, high-specific modulus and low-density aluminum alloy-based
composites with silicon carbide reinforcement have guaranteed significant interest in the
aerospace, defense and car industries. The combination of lightweight, environmental
resistance and useful mechanical properties such as modulus, strength, toughness and impact
resistance has made aluminium alloys well suited for use as matrix materials. Among various
reinforcements, SiCp is widely used because of its high modulus and strengths, excellent
thermal resistance, good corrosion resistance, good compatibility with matrix, low cost and
ready availability.

Table 1: Designation System for Aluminium Alloys


Alloy Designation

Details (Major Alloying Element)

Weight (%)

1xxx

Pure Aluminium

Al (99)

2xxx

Cu containing alloy

Cu (1.9 - 6.8)

3xxx

Mn containing alloy

Mn (0.3 - 1.5)

4xxx

Si containing alloy

Si (3.6 - 13.5)

5xxx

Mg containing alloy

Mg (0.5 - 5.5)

6xxx

Mg and Si containing alloy

Mg (0.4 - 1.5), Si (0.2 - 1.7)

7xxx

Zn containing alloy

Zn (1 - 8.2)

8xxx

Lithium &others alloys

others

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Table 2: Particle Size and Purity of Raw Material


Raw Material
Aluminum

Particle Size

Purity

-200/+325 mesh

99.50%

Silicon

-325 mesh

99.57%

Magnesium

-150 mesh

99.67%

Manganese

-325 mesh

99.78%

Copper

-325 mesh

99.81%

Iron

-100 mesh

99.39%

Zinc

-400 mesh

99.65%

Silicon Carbide

-1200 mesh

99.00%

In the present study we are mainly concentrating on AA6061 Aluminium Alloys. The
main reason for selecting the Aluminium alloy 6061 is a medium strength alloy with excellent
Wear resistance & corrosion resistance. It has the highest strength of the 6000 series alloys.
Alloy 6061is known as a structural alloy. In plate form, 6061 is the alloy most commonly
used for machining. As a relatively new alloy, the higher strength of 6061 has seen it replace
6061 in many applications. The addition of a large amount of manganese controls the grain
structure which in turn results in a stronger alloy. It is difficult to produce thin walled,
complicated extrusion shapes in alloy 6061. The extruded surface finish is not as smooth as
other similar strength alloys in the 6000 series. 6061 is typically used in highly stressed
applications, Trusses, Bridges, cranes, Transport applications, Ore skips, Beer barrels & Milk
churns.
1.2.1 Chemical Composition of AA6061 Aluminium Alloys:Chemical composition of AA6061 Alloy is shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Chemical Composition of AA6061Aluminium Alloys
Element

Mn

Fe

Mg

Weight (%)

0.4-1.0

0-0.5 0.6-1.2

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Si

Cu Zn

Ti

Cr

Al

0.7-1.3

0.1 0-0.2

0-0.1 0-0.25 Balance

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1.3 Reinforcements:Reinforcement materials for metal matrix composites can be produced in the form of
continuous fibers, short fibers, whiskers, or particles. The parameter that allows us to
distinguish between these different forms of reinforcements is called the aspect ratio. Aspect
ratio is nothing but the ratio of length to diameter (or thickness) of the fiber, particle, or
whisker. Thus, continuous fibers have an aspect ratio approaching infinity while perfectly
equiaxed particles have an aspect ratio of around one.
Table 4 lists some important reinforcement materials available in different forms. Ceramic
reinforcements combine high strength and elastic modulus with high temperature capability.
Continuous ceramic fibers are also, however, more expensive than ceramic particulate
reinforcements. One can transform practically any material (polymers, metals, or ceramics)
into fibrous form. A fiber can be defined as an elongated material having a more or less
uniform diameter or thickness of less than 250 m and an aspect ratio of more than 100. Note
that this is not only an operational definition but also a purely geometrical one that applies to
any material. The long length of fibers also makes it imperative, in most cases, to incorporate
them in some continuous medium, i.e., the matrix, to hold them together to make a fiber
reinforced composite. It should be emphasized that this, by no means, is the sole purpose of
the matrix in a composite.
Table 4: Some Important Reinforcements for Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs)
Continuous Fibers

A12O3, A12O3+SiO2, B, C, SiC, Si3N4,Nb-Ti, Nb3Sn

Discontinuous Fibers
a) Whiskers
b) Short fibers

SiC, Al2O3, TiB2


A12O3, SiC, (A12O3+SiO2), vapour grown carbon fibers

Particles

SiCp, Al2O3, Tic, B4C, WC

1.3.1 Particulate Reinforcement:-

Silicon carbide (SiC) and (C) is composed of tetrahedral of carbon and silicon atoms
with strong bonds in the crystal lattice. This produces a very hard and strong material. SiC is
not attacked by any acids or alkalis or molten salts up to 800oC. In air, SiC forms a protective
silicon oxide coating at 1200oC and is able to be used up to 1600oC. Silicon carbide in
particulate form has been available for a long time. It is quite cheap and commonly used for
abrasive, refractory, and chemical purposes. Particulate SiC is processed by reacting silica in
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the form of sand and carbon in the form of coke at 2400C in an electric furnace. The SiC
produced in the form of large granules is subsequently commented to the desired size. Two
types of SiC particulate reinforcement are there with angular and rounded morphology,
respectively. The high thermal conductivity coupled with low thermal expansion and high
strength gives these material exceptional thermal shock resistant qualities. SiC ceramics with
little or no grain boundary impurities maintain their strength to very high temperatures,
approaching 1600oC with no strength loss. Properties of silicon carbide are low density, high
strength, low thermal expansion, high hardness, and high elastic modulus.

1.4 Production of Aluminium MMCs (Al MMCs):Aluminium matrix composites (AMCs) refer to the class of light weight high
performance aluminium centric material systems. The reinforcement in AMCs could be in the
form of continuous/discontinuous fibres, whisker or particulates, in volume fractions ranging
from a few percent to 70%. Properties of AMCs can be tailored to the demands of different
industrial applications by suitable combinations of matrix, reinforcement and processing
route. Presently several grades of AMCs are manufactured by different routes. Three decades
of intensive research have provided a wealth of new scientific knowledge on the intrinsic and
extrinsic effects of ceramic reinforcement on physical, mechanical, thermo-mechanical and
tribological properties of AMCs. In the last few years, AMCs have been utilised in high-tech
structural and functional applications including aerospace, defence, automotive, and thermal
management areas, as well as in sports and recreation.
The properties of the composites can be tailored by manipulating parameters such as
reinforcement particle distribution, size, volume fraction, orientation, and matrix
microstructure. Metal matrix composites (MMCs), such as SiC particle reinforced Al, are one
of the widely known composites because of their superior properties such as high strength,
hardness, stiffness, wear and corrosion resistance. SiC particle reinforced Al based MMCs are
among the most common MMC and available ones due to their economical production. They
can be widely used in the aerospace, automobiles industry such as electronic heat sinks,
automotive drive shafts, or explosion engine components, highly stressed application &
structural purpose. The physical and chemical compatibility between SiC particles and Al matrix
is the main concern in the preparation of Al/SiC/C/ composites.

Therefore, the particle reinforced metal matrix composites can be synthesized by such
methods as liquid, solid, or gaseous state processes for fabricating MMCs. Different method
results in different properties. In present study, the PM method (Solid state processing) is
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carried out to prepare SiC and Gr particle reinforced Al MMC (AA6061). The effect of
weight percentage of the reinforced particles on physical & mechanical behaviour such as
density (green density and sintered density), hardness, wear resistance and microstructure
(Wear Pattern and distribution of particles along grain boundaries) of the composites can be
investigated.
1.4.1 Liquid State Processing: The Liquid State Processing can be subdivided into four major categories:a) Stir Casting: - This involves incorporation of ceramic particulate into liquid
aluminium melt and allowing the mixture to solidify. Here, the crucial thing is to
create good wetting between the particulate reinforcement and the liquid aluminium
alloy melt. The simplest and most commercially used technique is known as vortex
technique or stir-casting technique. The vortex technique involves the introduction of
pre-treated ceramic particles into the vortex of molten alloy created by the rotating
impeller. Lloyd (1999) reports that vortex-mixing technique for the preparation of
ceramic particle dispersed aluminium matrix composites was originally developed by
Surappa & Rohatgi (1981) at the Indian Institute of Science. Subsequently several
aluminium companies further refined and modified the process which are currently
employed to manufacture a variety of AMCs on commercial scale.
Microstructural inhomogeneties can cause notably particle agglomeration and
sedimentation in the melt and subsequently during solidification. Inhomogeneity in
reinforcement distribution in these cast composites could also be a problem as a result
of interaction between suspended ceramic particles and moving solid-liquid interface
during solidification. Generally it is possible to incorporate up to 30% ceramic
particles in the size range 5 to 100 m in a variety of molten aluminium alloys. The
meltceramic particle slurry may be transferred directly to a shaped mould prior to
complete solidification or it may be allowed to solidify in billet or rod shape so that it
can be reheated to the slurry form for further processing by technique such as die
casting, and investment casting. The process is not suitable for the incorporation of
sub-micron size ceramic particles or whiskers. Another variant of stir casting process
is compo-casting. Here, ceramic particles are incorporated into the alloy in the semi
solid state.

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b) Infiltration Process: - Liquid aluminium alloy is injected/infiltrated into the


interstices of the porous pre-forms of continuous fibre/short fibre or whisker or
particle to produce AMCs. Depending on the nature of reinforcement and its volume
fraction perform can be infiltrated, with or without the application of pressure or
vacuum. AMC shaving reinforcement volume fraction ranging from 10 to 70% can be
produced using a variety of infiltration techniques. In order for the perform to retain its
integrity and shape, it is often necessary to use silica and alumina based mixtures as
binder. Some level of porosity and local variations in the volume fractions of the
reinforcement are often noticed in the AMCs processed by infiltration technique. The
process is widely used to produce aluminium matrix composites having
particle/whisker/short fibre/continuous fibre as reinforcement.
c) Spray Deposition: - Spray deposition techniques fall into two distinct classes,
depending whether the droplet stream is produced from a molten bath (Osprey
process) or by continuous feeding of cold metal into a zone of rapid heat injection
(thermal spray process). The spray process has been extensively explored for the
production of AMCs by injecting ceramic particle/whisker/short fibre into the spray.
AMCs produced in this way often exhibit inhomogeneous distribution of ceramic
particles. Porosity in the as sprayed state is typically about 510%. Depositions of this
type are typically consolidated to full density by subsequent processing. Spray process
also permit the production of continuous fibre reinforced aluminium matrix
composites. For this, fibres are wrapped around a mandrel with controlled 326 M K
Surappa inter fibre spacing, and the matrix metal is sprayed onto the fibres. A
composite monotype is thus formed; bulk composites are formed by hot pressing of
composite monotypes. Fibre volume fraction and distribution is controlled by
adjusting the fibre spacing and the number of fibre layers. AMCs processed by spray
deposition technique are relatively inexpensive with cost that is usually intermediate
between stir cast and PM processes.
d) In-Situ Processing (Reactive Processing): - There are several different processes that
would fall under this category including liquid-gas, liquid-solid, liquid-liquid and
mixed salt reactions. In these processes refractory reinforcement are created in the
aluminium alloy matrix. One of the examples is directional oxidation of aluminium
also known as DIMOX process.
In this process the alloy of AlMg is placed on the top of ceramic pre form in a
crucible. The entire assembly is heated to a suitable temperature in the atmosphere of
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free flowing nitrogen bearing gas mixture. AlMg alloy soon after melting infiltrates
into the pre form and composite is formed. MartinMariettas exothermic dispersion
process or the XDTm process is another in-situ technique for composite processing.
XDTm process is used to produce TiB2 reinforced aluminium matrix composites. The
process is flexible and permits formation of both hard and soft phases of various sizes
and morphologies that includes whiskers, particles and platelets in aluminium alloy
matrices. Gasliquid reaction is also utilised to produce TiC reinforced aluminium
matrix composites. For example, by bubbling carbonaceous gas like methane into Al
Ti melt kept at elevated temperature it is possible to produce AlTiCp composites.
London and Scandinavian Metallurgical Company has developed an in-situ technique,
which utilises reaction between mixed salts to produce a dispersion of fine TiB2
particles in an aluminium matrix. A major limitation of in-situ technique is related to
the thermodynamic restrictions on the composition and nature of the reinforcement
phase that can form in a given system, and the kinetic restrictions on the shape, size
and volume fraction of the reinforcement that can be achieved through chemical
reactions under a given set of test conditions.
1.4.2 Solid State Processing: In Solid state processing Powder blending followed by consolidation (PM processing),
diffusion bonding and vapour deposition techniques comes under this section.
a) Powder Blending and Consolidation (P/M Processing): - This route is generally
preferred since its shows a number of product advantages. The uniform distribution of
ceramic particle reinforcements is readily realized. On the other hand, the solid state
process minimizes the reactions between the metal matrix and the ceramic
reinforcement, and thus enhances the bonding between reinforcement and the matrix.
The fine oxide particle tends to act as a dispersion-strengthening agent and often has
strong influence on the matrix properties particularly during heat treatment. Powder
metallurgy is a net shape forming process consisting of producing metal powder,
blending then, compacting them in dies, and sintering them to impart strength,
hardness and toughness. Although the size and the weight of its products are limited,
the PM process is capable of producing relatively complex parts economically, in net
shape form and wide variety of metal and alloy powders.

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Basically, in the conventional PM production, after the metallic powders have


been produced, the sequence consists of three steps. Firstly, blending and mixing the
powder, and then compaction, in which the powders are pressed into the desired part
shape. The last step of PM method is sintering, which involves heating to a
temperature below the melting point to cause solid state bonding of the particles and
strengthening the part. Various steps involved in P/M technique is shown in Figure 4.
Blending refers to when powders of the same chemical composition but possibly
different chemistries being combine. After that, in compaction (pressing), high
pressure is applied to the powders to form them into the required shape. The pressure
required for pressing metal powders ranges from 70MPa (for Al) to 800MPa (for high
density iron parts). After pressing, the green compact lacks strength and hardness
without heat treatment. For that Sintering is done which is a heat treatment operation
performed on the compact to bond its metallic particles. Sintering is a high
temperature process used to develop the final properties of the component.
In this study, the PM method is carried out to prepare SiC and C particle
reinforced Al MMC (AA6061). Aluminium alloy 6061 is a medium strength alloy
with excellent wear & corrosion resistance. It has the highest strength of the 6000
series alloys. Alloy 6061 is known as a structural alloy. This increase in strength is
due the addition of a large quantity of manganese that controls the grain structural and
creates a strong alloy.

Figure 4: Various steps involved in synthesis of Al-SiC-C Hybrid composites by P/M


technique.
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b) Diffusion Bonding: - Mono filament-reinforced AMCs are mainly produced by the


diffusion bonding (foil-fibre-foil) route or by the evaporation of relatively thick layers
of aluminium on the surface of the fibre. 6061 Al-boron fibre composites have been
produced by diffusion bonding via the foil-fibre-foil process. However, the process is
more commonly used to produce Ti based fibre reinforced composites. The process is
cumbersome and obtaining high fibre volume fraction and homogeneous fibre
distribution is difficult. The process is not suitable to produce complex shapes and
components.
c) Physical Vapour Deposition: - The process involves continuous passage of fibre
through a region of high partial pressure of the metal to be deposited, where
condensation takes place so as to produce a relatively thick coating on the fibre. The
vapour is produced by directing a high power electron beam onto the end of a solid bar
feed stock. Typical deposition rates are 510 m per minute. Composites with uniform
distribution of fibre and volume fraction as high as 80% can be produced by this
technique.

1.5 Interface: Interface is a very general term used in various fields of science and technology to
denote the location where two entities meet. The term in composites refers to a bounding
surface between the reinforcement and matrix across which there is a discontinuity in
chemical composition, elastic modulus, coefficient of thermal expansion, and thermodynamic
properties such as chemical potential. The interface (fiber/matrix or particle/matrix) is very
important in all kinds of composites. This is because in most composites, the interfacial area
per unit volume is very large. Also, in most metal matrix composite systems, the
reinforcement and the matrix will not be in thermodynamic equilibrium, i.e., a
thermodynamic driving force will be present for an interfacial reaction that will reduce the
energy of the system. All these items make the interface have a very important influence on
the properties of the composite. Crystallographic, Wet ability & nature of bonding manly comes
under this section.

Once the matrix and the reinforcement of a composite are chosen, it is the set of
characteristics of the interface region that determines the final properties of the composite. In
this regard, thorough characterization of the interface region assumes a great deal of
importance. A variety of sophisticated techniques are available to mechanical characterization

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of the interface region. In particular, a quantitative measure of the strength of the interfacial
bond between the matrix and reinforcement is of great importances.

1.6 Basic Terminology Used in Experimental Analysis: a) Density: - The mass density or density of a material is its mass per unit volume. The
symbol most often used for density is . mathematically; density is defined as mass
divided by volume.

Where is the density, m is the mass, and V is the volume. In some cases (for
instance, in the United States oil and gas industry), density is also defined as
its weight per unit volume, although this quantity is more properly called specific
weight. Its unit is g/cm3.
b) Theoretical Density (TD): - Density of a pore free powder compact (practically not
attainable) is known as theoretical density and represented by th. Unit of theoretical
density is g/cm3.
c) Apparent Density (AD): - Density of the pallet when the powder fill with free fall
without any pressure (due to gravity).
d) Green Density (GD): - Density of the pallet produced by compaction is known as
green density.
e) Sintered Density (SD): - Density of the pallet produced by compaction after sintering
(heat treatment) is known as sintered density. The densities of the green compacts
were determined from the mass and the dimensions of the compacts, while the
densities of the sintered compacts were determined using the Archimedes principle.
f) Densification Factor (DF): - The densification factor for all sintered specimens was
defined, using the formula:

DF = (Sd Gd) / (Td Gd)


Where DF is densification factor, Sd is sintered density, Gd is green density, and Td is
theoretical density. A negative densification coefficient indicates expansion, while a
positive value represents shrinkage.

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1.7 Hardness: Hardness is a measure of how resistant solid matter is to various kinds of permanent shape
change when a force is applied. It is also defined as the resistance to indentation or
scratching or surface abrasion.
There are two methods of hardness measurement:
i.

Scratch Hardness: - Commonly measure by Mohrs test.

ii.

Indentation Hardness (Abrasion): - measured by


Brinell hardness number (BHN)
Rockwell hardness number (HRB, HRC, etc.)
Vickers hardness number
Knoop hardness number

1.8 Wear and Wear Mechanism: 1.8.1 Wear: It is defined as a process of removal of material from one or both of two solid surfaces
in solid contact. Wear is defined as the damage to a solid surface, generally involving
the progressive loss of material, due to relative motion between two moving surfaces.
Such a process is complicated, involving time-dependent deformation, failure and
removal of materials at the counter face.

1.8.2 Types of wear: Following are the various types of wear processes based on the types of wearing
contacts:(i) Single-phase wear: In which a solid moving relative to a sliding surface causes
material to be removed from the surface. The relative motion for wear to occur may be
sliding or rolling.
(ii) Multi-phase wear: In which wear, from a solid, liquid or gas acts as a carrier for a
second phase that actually produces the wear.

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1.8.3 Wear Mechanisms: Common types of wear mechanisms are as listed below:(i) Abrasive wear
(ii) Solid particle erosion
(iii) Sliding and adhesive wear
(iv) Fretting wear
(v) Corrosive wear
(vi) Impact wear
Sliding and Adhesive Wear: As we have mentioned various types of wear mechanism which is taking place
in different application. As per my work sliding and adhesive wear mechanism is more
prominent so that my whole emphasis over sliding and adhesive wears studies.
Sliding and adhesive wear mechanism is a type of wear generated by the
sliding of one solid surface against another. Erosion, cavitations, rolling contact,
abrasion, oxidative wear, fretting, and corrosion are separated from the class of
"sliding" wear problems even though some sliding may take place in some of these
types of wear. Apparently, sliding wear is a type of wear that is "left over" when all
other types of wear have been identified under separate conditions. Although sliding
wear and adhesive wear are not synonymous, Adhesive wear is as ambiguously
defined as sliding wear. This phenomenon denotes a wearing action in which no
specific agency can be identified as the cause of wear. Adhesive wear is said to occur
if no abrasive substances are found, amplitude of sliding is greater than that in fretting
and oxidation does not take place.

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1.9 Importance of hybrid MMC:It has been observed that the most important advantage associated with hybrid composites is
their high strength and stiffness along with low weight, which enables the greater usage of
composites in space applications where being light and strong is given prime importance.
Hybrid metal matrix composites with proper reinforcement of different material such as a SiC
Al2O3, and Graphite. Hybrid metal matrix composites are flexible in nature associated with
their desired property. With all these importance hybrid metal matrix composites have been
replaced metals as per desired application. One major drawback linked with this composite is
its high cost which is often due to the use of expensive raw materials and not due to the
manufacturing processes.

1.9.1 Wear study on MMC:With continual development in fabrication technique, more MMCs have been found to be
suitable to replace some of the conventional metallic monolithic alloys such as the various
grades of Al alloys in application, where light weight and energy saving are important design
considerations. The presence of hard reinforcement phases, particulates, bers or whiskers has
endowed these composites with good tribological with (friction and wear) characteristics.
These properties along with good specic strength and modulus make them good candidate
materials for many engineering situation where sliding contact is expected. Wear is a surface
phenomenon which occurs by displacement and detachment of material because wear usually
implies a progressive loss of weight and alteration of dimensions over a period of time. All
mechanical components that undergo sliding or rolling contact are subject to some degree of
wear. Such components are bearings, gears, seals, guides, piston rings, splines, brakes and
clutches.

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CHAPTER-2: LITERATURE SURVEY

2.1

Literature Survey: The literature survey is carried out to study powder metallurgy processes, Metal

Matrix Composite preparation and behaviour, and evaluate the density, hardness & wear
properties of AA6082+SiC composites. The various parameters such as Silicon carbide
content, applied load, sliding distance, sliding speed & effect of microstructure, etc have been
studied. The work of researchers in this respect is been considered.
Federal BDM (1993) report addresses the collection and analysis of technical, market,
and policy information related to the world-wide Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) industry
sector. The report includes information gathered from a wide variety of sources. This
assessment provides a methodology and framework for conducting similar studies in the
future and identifies opportunities to enhance the level of joint effort between the U.S. and
Canada in creating and sustaining a viable MMC marketplace. This study assesses the MMC
technology base, detailing production capabilities, process and product technology
developments, the current marketplace, and future potential markets and applications.
Facilitators and barriers affecting the MMC sector are outlined, and roadmaps of actions
designed to enhance MMC development activities and foster joint U.S./Canada activities in
this arena are provided.
Liu Y.B., Lim S.C, Lu.L, And Lai M.O. (1994) have address about the advantages
to fabricate the metal matrix particulate composite (MMPCs) using powder metallurgy. They
also discussed about the various PM related methods used in fabricating MMCs and outline
the common problem associated with these methods.
Surappa M. K.

(2003) had discussed about the Aluminium matrix composites

(AMCs) refer to the class of light weight high performance aluminium centric material
systems. The reinforcement in AMCs could be in the form of continuous/discontinuous fibres,
whisker or particulates, in volume fractions ranging from a few percent to 70%. Properties of
AMCs can be tailored to the demands of different industrial applications by suitable
combinations of matrix, reinforcement and processing route. He also discuss about the
presently available several grades of AMCs & their manufacturing methods by different
routes.
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Khairaldien W. M, Khalil A.A. and Bayoumi M. R. (2004) have discussed about


the extensive utilization of aluminium reinforced with silicon carbide composites in different
structural applications & motivated the need to find a cost effective technological production
method for these composites. Compression tests are carried out for compositions containing
0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% silicon carbide simultaneously at sintering
temperature of 650, 700, 750, 800, 850 and 9000C. Production of a homogenous, high
strength and net shape structural components made from aluminium-silicon carbide
composites can be achieved using powder metallurgy (PM) technology.
Th. Schubertet. al. (2004) have studied light weight materials are expected to replace
sintered iron and steel parts in automobiles in order to reduce weight, increase fuel efficiency
and also reduce exhaust emission.
Schaffer G.B. (2004) has pointed under the increasing interest in light weight
materials coupled to the need for cost-effective processing have combined to create a
significant opportunity for aluminium powder metallurgy. Net shape processing of aluminium
by the classical press-and-sinter powder metallurgy technique using elemental powder blends
is a unique and important metal forming method which is cost effective in producing complex
parts very close to final dimensions.
Karl Ulrich Kainer (2006) have discussed about the basics of metal matrix composite
fabrication process, applications, future scope and latest development in metal matrix
composite.
Gokce A.

and Findik F.

(2008) had compared the physical and mechanical

properties for argon atomized Al-1wt-%Mg powders with and without lubricant 1wt%
Acrawax. Pure nitrogen sintering was performed and the effect of sintering atmosphere for the
mixed Al-1%Mg powder compacts was also investigated.
Manoj Singla, Deepak Dwivedi D., Lakhvir Singh and Vikas Chawla (2009) have
made a modest attempt to develop aluminium based silicon carbide particulate MMCs with an
objective to develop a conventional low cost method of producing MMCs and to obtain
homogenous dispersion of ceramic material. To achieve these objectives two step-mixing
method of stir casting technique has been adopted and subsequent property analysis has been
made. Aluminium and SiC has been chosen as matrix and reinforcement material
respectively.
Padmavathi C., Agarwal D. and Upadhyaya A. (2008) studied sintering behaviour
of aluminium alloy powders. Blended 2712 (Al-Cu-Mg-Si-Sn) and 6711 (Al-Mg-Si-Cu) alloy
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powders were consolidated by microwave sintering through temperature range of 570 to 630
C for 1 hr in vacuum, nitrogen, argon and hydrogen atmospheres. The influence of sintering
temperature and atmosphere on densification response were investigated in comparison with
conventional sintered parts. Microwave sintering enhanced the densification response in
shorter times and lower sintering temperature in turn leading to better properties.
Das S., R.Behera, A.Dutta, G.Majumdar, B.Oraon and G. Sutradhar (2010)
suggest that the forgability of aluminium metal matrix composite, which are produced by
powder metallurgy method, are greatly depends on the size and percentage of reinforcement
materials, compacting load, sintered temperature and soaking time etc. A comparison have
been made with different type of aluminium silicon carbide metal matrix composite materials
contains 0%, 5%, 10%, 15% & 20% by weight of silicon carbide.
A.Chennakesava Reddy and Essa Zitoun (2010) have done studies on mechanical
properties have been determined for different metal matrix composites produced from Al
6061, Al 6063 and Al 7072 matrix alloys reinforced with silicon carbide particulates.
Muller S., Schubert Th., Fiedler F., Stein R., Kieback B. and Deters L. (2011)
discussed about the mechanical and tribological behaviour of composites reinforced with
sharp edged or spherical ceramic particles. The wear resistance was evaluated during sliding
against hard steel under lubricating conditions at elevated temperatures.
Rajesh Purohit, Rana R. S. and Verma C. S.

(2012) has been fabricated a

horizontal ball mill for milling of aluminium and SiC particles. The change in powder particle
morphology during mechanical alloying of Aluminium and SiC powders using horizontal ball
mill was studied. Al-SiC composites with 5 to 30 weight % of SiC were fabricated using
powder metallurgy process.
Haris Rudianto, Sangsun Yang, Yongjin Kim and Kiwoo Nam (2012) have
investigated the mechanical properties of pre-mixed aluminium matrix composites with
different chemical compositions. Mixed powers of Al-14Si-2.5Cu-0.5Mg and Al-14.5Si1.85Cu-2.85Fe-0.8Mg with 10% volume fraction of SiC (12 m) were used as starting
powders.
Mateusz Laska and Jan Kazior (2012) have produced using a wide range of
compaction pressures for three different chemical compositions. The compacts were then
sintered under a pure dry nitrogen atmosphere at three different temperatures. The heating and
cooling rates were the same throughout the entire test. The results showed that the green
density increases with compaction pressure, but that sintered density is independent of green
density (compaction pressure) for each sintering temperature.
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Murugesan S., Balamurugan K. and Sathiya Narayanan C. (2010) have suggested


the optimization of EDM process parameter for Al 6061- 15% SiC composites with a multiple
electrode.
Siba Sankar Mahapatra and Saurav Datta (2011) have investigated to develop
redmud filled polyster composites with different weight fraction and characterize mechanical
and tribological properties. The responses have been predicted using both artificial neural
network (ANN) and Taguchi method so that a comparative evaluation can be made.
Shouvik Ghosh, Prasanta Sahoo and Goutam Sutradhar (2012) have studied the
analysis of variance is employed to investigate the influence of four controlling parameters,
viz., SiCp content, normal load, sliding speed and sliding time on dry sliding wear of the
composites. It is observed that SiCp content, sliding speed and normal load significantly
affect the dry sliding wear. The optimal combination of the four controlling parameters is also
obtained for minimum wear.
Gurcan A.B. and Baker T.N. (1995) have investigated the wear resistance of four
AA6061 MMCs together with the monolithic AA6061 alloy, all in the T6 condition, using a
pin-on-disc test.
Deuis R. L., Subramanian C.

and Yellupb J. M.

(1996) has reviewed

contemporary wear theories, issues related to counter face wear, and wear mechanisms are
discussed. Other areas of research relevant to adhesive wear of Al-5 alloys and aluminium
composites containing discontinuous reinforcement phases, such as the role of the
reinforcement phase, are also discussed.
Wilson S and Ball A. (2013) discussed the wear resistance of Al-MMCs and the
responses of a 6000 series aluminium alloy, reinforced with silicon carbide particles, to
cavitations erosion, solid particle erosion, abrasion and sliding wear are reported. The mode
and rate of material removal for each wear type is presented and compared to that of the
monolithic matrix alloy.
Riyadh A. Al-Samarai, Haftirman, Khairel Rafezi Ahmad and Y. Al-Douri
(2012) have discussed the effect of load and speed on sliding friction coefficient and
performance tribology of aluminiumsilicon casting alloy was evaluated using a pin-on-disc
with three different loads (10, 20, and 30 N) at three speeds (200, 300, and 400 r/min) and
relative humidity of 70%. Factors and conditions that had significant effect were identified.

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D.Kondayya, S.Rajesh and Dr. A. Gopala Krishna (2010) discussed about the
study of optimal welding parameters and determined by the grey relational grade obtained
from the grey relational analysis.

2.2

Motivation for the Project: There are so many research is going on to meet the market requirement for

automobile, aerospace, and many engineering application to increase strength to weight ratio,
higher wear resistance property and much more that will reduce the inertia of the system and
increase performance of the system. Aluminium metal matrix composite is a relatively new
material among all the engineering materials. It has proved its position in automobile,
aerospace, and much other engineering application due to its wear resistance properties and
due to its sustainable hardness & high strength to weight ratio. The nature of distribution of
the reinforcement phase in the matrix greatly influenced the properties of aluminium metal
matrix composites. The wear of aluminium MMC which are produced by powder metallurgy
method are greatly depends upon the size and % of reinforcement materials (SiC, C) %, load,
sliding distance, sliding speed, sintering temperature and soaking time etc. so there is a lot of
scope in this aluminium based MMC. By changing the chemical composition in Al based
MMC with fixing 10% of reinforced material SiC and varying C% of powder. By using Grey
Relational Analysis we optimize the control factor according to required response variable
that will give the best result which is used for a certain application and find the most
significant control parameters which directly affect the response variable.
The increasing interest in light weight materials coupled to the need for cost-effective
processing have combined to create a significant opportunity for aluminium powder
metallurgy. Net shape processing of aluminium by the classical press-and-sinter powder
metallurgy technique using elemental powder blends is a unique and important metal forming
method which is cost effective in producing complex parts very close to final dimensions. For
cost effective production of MMCs by powder metallurgy and the high demand of these
MMCs leads to create the interest to work on that field.

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2.3

Mechanical Engineering Department

Challenges and Opportunities: Several challenges must be overcome in order to intensify the engineering usage of

AMCs. Design, research and product development efforts and business development skills are
required to overcome these challenges. In this pursuit there is an imperative need to address
the following issues.
i.

Science of primary processing of AMCs need to be understood more thoroughly,


especially factors affecting the micro structural integrity including agglomerates in
AMCs.

ii.

There is need to improve the damage tolerant properties particularly fracture


toughness and ductility in AMCs.

iii.

Work should be done to produce high quality and low cost reinforcements from
industrial wastes and by-products.

iv.

Efforts should be made on the development of AMCs based on non-standard


aluminium alloys as matrices.

v.

There is a greater need to classify different grades of AMCs based on property profile
and manufacturing cost.

vi.

There is an urgent need to develop simple, economical and portable non-destructive


kits to quantify undesirable defects in AMCs.

vii.

Secondary processing is an important issue in AMCs. Work must be initiated to


develop simple and affordable joining techniques for AMCs. Development of less
expensive tools for machining and cutting AMCs is of great necessity.

viii.
ix.

Work must be done to develop re-cycling technology for AMCs.


There must be more consortium/networking type approaches to share and document
wealth of information on AMCs.

There exist tremendous opportunities to disseminate several high profile success stories
on the engineering applications of AMCs amongst the materials community. AMCs must be
looked upon as materials for energy conservation and environmental protection. It increases
market acceptance by disseminating information on the outstanding potential of AMCs.

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2.4

Mechanical Engineering Department

Objectives: The main purposes in accomplishing of this project are:-

I) To optimize structure and properties of AA6061/SiCp/C MMCs by varying process


parameters.
II) To synthesis Al6061+ (silicon carbide and Graphite) particle reinforced with aluminium
metal matrix composite using powder metallurgy process.

III) To study the effect of weight percentage of silicon carbide and C particles on physical
behaviour (Theoretical density & sintered density) & mechanical behaviour (Hardness, Wear
& Microstructure) of aluminium based hybrid metal matrix composite.

IV) Optimization of the experimental results using grey relation analysis & identification of
most significant control factor by ANNOVA ANALYSIS.

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2.5

Mechanical Engineering Department

Problem Statement: Aluminium metal matrix composites (AA6061 MMCs) are attractive for a wide variety of

aerospace, transportation, structural, automobile and defence applications. But AA6061 has
lower resistance, low strength and hardness. To overcome this problem, silicon carbide (SiC)
and C (Graphite) is added as a reinforcement particle to enhance the mechanical behaviour of
Al MMC.
`

Raw material (Powders)

Blending

Compacting

Sintering

Final Specimen Analysis


i) Density (green & sintered)
ii) Hardness
iii) Wear Resistance
iv) Microstructure
Figure 5: A flow chart of powder metallurgy method and specimen analysis
Figure 5 shows the powder metallurgy method to produce five composite specimens with
different weight percentage of SiC+C as reinforcement particles in the composites and final
analysis of produced specimen.
The experiment has been performed on different composition of C and fixed composition
of SiC. The Graphite particles which are varying (0%, 3%, 5%, and 7%) by weight
percentage. The composite has been prepared by powder metallurgy method and the
specimens were examined using the standardized test which are Density test, Rockwell
Hardness test (B-scale), Wear test & Microstructure.
In this study, four specimen of the composite are produced with different weight
percentage of C which are (0%, 3%, 5%, and 7%) to investigate the effect on mechanical
behaviour on the composites.
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CHAPTER- 3: EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES


3.1

Work Material:This chapter describes the experimental procedure as adopted in the present study. In

the present study, the PM method is carried out to prepare SiC particle and C reinforced Al
based Hybrid MMC (AA6061 + 10% of SiC+ varying %of C). Aluminium alloy 6061 is a
medium strength alloy with excellent corrosion resistance. Chemical composition of alloy
AA6061 is shown in Table 5. It has the highest strength of the 6000 series alloys. Alloy 6061
is known as a structural alloy. This increase in strength is due the addition of a large quantity
of manganese that controls the grain structural and creates a strong alloy. As a relatively new
alloy, the higher strength of 6082 has seen it replace 6061 in many applications. AA6061 is
typically used in highly stressed applications, Trusses, Bridges, cranes, Transport
applications, Ore skips, Beer barrels & Milk churns.

3.1.1 Chemical composition of Base alloys:-

Table 5: Chemical composition of AA6061 (Base alloy) aluminium alloys


Element

Mn

Fe

Weight (%)

0.4-1.0

0-0.5 0.6-1.2

3.2

Mg

Si

Cu Zn

Ti

Cr

Al

0.7-1.3

0.1 0-0.2

0-0.1 0-0.25 Balance

Fabrication of Al MMC (AA6061+10% of SiC+varrying % of C) by

Powder Metallurgy:The powder metallurgy is one of the popular solid state methods used in production of
Al-metal matrix composites. Powder processing involves cold die pressing and sintering
under inert gas (N2) atmosphere. The matrix and the reinforcement powders are blended to
produce a homogeneous distribution.

3.2.1 Powder metallurgy:It is the science of producing metal powders and making finished / semi finished
objects from mixed or alloyed powders with or without the addition of non-metallic
constituents. The P/M process is a unique part fabrication method that is highly cost effective
in producing simple or complex parts at, or close to final dimensions.

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A) Steps in powder metallurgy:


I) Powder production
II) Blending
III) Compaction
IV) Sintering operation

I)

Powder production:The first phase gives the preparation of the powder that is the constituents of the

mixture and it follows the successive stages. One of the most popular methods for
implementation of this phase is the "gas atomization" in which a gas liquid vein is directed by
a gas jet at high pressure that broken it into small spherical drops as shown in Figure 6. Thus
the powder products have spherical morphology, good slider and packaging. Atomization
uses high pressure fluid jets to break up a molten metal stream into very fine droplets, which
then solidify into fine particles. Al powder is produced by this process.

Figure 6: Powder production by gas atomization


It is necessary to select pure metal powder and optimal processing parameters for the
preparation of specimens. Metal powders used for the preparation for Aluminium based metal
matrix composite was obtained from the market. The assay of the materials as provided by the
suppliers is provided below in Table 6.

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Raw Material
Aluminum

Mechanical Engineering Department

Particle Size

Purity

-200/+325 mesh

99.50%

Silicon

-325 mesh

99.57%

Magnesium

-150 mesh

99.67%

Manganese

-325 mesh

99.78%

Copper

-325 mesh

99.81%

Iron

-100 mesh

99.39%

Zinc

-400 mesh

99.65%

Silicon Carbide

-1200 mesh

99.00%

Table 6: Particle size (number of mesh vs. microns)


Electronic Weighing Balance: - Contech Precision Balance (Type: CA 223)
Maximum Capacity= 250 gram

Figure 8: Electronic Weighing Balance


II)

Blending:In the second phase the powder products are mixed together with the reinforcement

ceramics or other particles and then compacted in the desired level. Metal and ceramic
powders were blended in a Turbula mixer with Jar container as shown in Figure 9. Blending
is one of the crucial processes in powder metallurgy where the metallic powders have mixed
with the ceramic reinforced particles. Good blending produces no agglomeration of both the
metallic and ceramic powders. 1% of acrawax by weight was added to the base Aluminium
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powder and mixed separately for 20 minutes. In general lubricant was added and homogeny
blended to reduce friction between the powder mass and the surface of the die and obtain a
good compaction. Addition of 1.0 Si, 0.9 Mg, and 0.7 Mn as elemental were made to the
lubricated base powder and mixed for 30 min each, after which a composition similar to that
of wrought 6061 Al alloy was gained. Finally by addition of 0%, 3%, 5%, 7% of Gr and 10%
of SiC particulates by weight to the 6061 Al alloy powder and mixed for 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90
minutes respectively. The obtained powder mixtures with ceramics were homogeny at
macroscopic level.

Mixing Equipment: - Terbula Blender, 60 RPM & mixing time depends on the composites
(% of SiC+ % of C).
III)

Compaction:

Compaction is performed using dies machined to close tolerances as shown in Figure


10. Dies are made of cemented carbide, die/tool steel; pressed using hydraulic or mechanical
presses shown in Figure 12. The basic purpose of compaction is to obtain a green compact
with sufficient strength to withstand further handling operations. The green compact is then
taken for sintering. Hot extrusion, hot pressing & hot isostatic pressing consolidated at high
temperatures. Here for the given sample cold die compaction is done.
For pressing, a hydraulic press (Model: plus one machine fabric) was used to obtain
green compacts shown in Figure 12. Die wall is brushed with zinc stearate powder for easy
ejection of pallet and to reduce the friction between them. Blended Powders were compacted
at 250 5 Mpa in a hardened steel die. In order to avoid damage of the samples during
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ejection, the compaction pressure was decreased to 5Mpa after maximum pressure was
obtained. The dimensions of green compacts are dia10mm, height 10mm (cylindrical pallet)
are placed in a boat for sintering is shown in Figure 11. The theoretical density assuming zero
porosity was calculated by Rule of Mixture (ROM). The green density of the compacts was
determined from weight and volume measurements while the densities of the sintered
compacts were determined using the Archimedes principle.

Figure 10: Die for Pallet Preparation

Figure 11: Green Pallet Produced After Cold Die Compaction Placed in a Boat

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Figure 12: Hydraulic Press for Compaction


Specification of Hydraulic press used: Company: SVS Hydraulics
Capacity: 50 Ton
Maximum Power:

3.70 KW/ 5 HP

Working Pressure: 300 Bar


IV)

Sintering: It is the process of consolidating either loose aggregate of powder or a green compact

of the desired composition under controlled conditions of temperature about 70 to 90% of


absolute melting point and soaking time. The ceramic boat with dimensions 3x3x1cm3 is used
for sintering the green compacts with achieved dimensions are placed in the boat. The boat is
moved slowly inside pre heating zone of tubular programmable furnace as shown in Figure
15. The temperature within the furnace rises slowly in the preheat zone till it reaches the
actual sintering temperature. The green compacts are de-lubricated in the preheat zone at
3500C for 30 minutes. After de-lubrication of pallets the boat enters into hot zone or sinter
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zone where the temperature raised slowly to 6000C it remains essentially constant for 60
minutes in protective atmosphere (inert gas N2). Thermal cycle for sintering AA6061/SiCp/C
MMCs is shown in Figure 17. The sintering temperature is kept below the melting point of
the base metal. The boat is pushed into the cooling zone where the drop in part temperature is
controlled precisely and cooled to room temperature. As the parts travel through the furnace,
the temperature cycle results change in composition, microstructure and properties. In the
preheat zone, the lubricant volatilizes, leaves the part as a vapour, and is carried out by the
dynamic atmosphere flow. In the hot zone, metallurgical bonds develop between particles and
solid state alloying takes place. Figure 13 shows the steps in sintering geometry. The part then
moves through the cooling zone. The microstructure developed during sintering determines
the properties of the part. Dimensional changes encountered after sintering. The premixed
elemental AA6061 specimens are subjected to volumetric expansion. Sintered densities of
specimens were measured by the Archimedes principle (water displacement technique).
Sintered pallets produced after sintering under N2 atmosphere .

Sintering Theory: Sintering involves these two types of system:1) Single component system Here self-diffusion is the major material transport mechanism
and the driving force resulting from a chemical potential gradient due to surface tension and
capillary forces between particles.
2) Multi-component system (involve more than one phase) Inter-diffusion occurs with the
concentration gradient being the major driving force for sintering in addition to self-diffusion
caused by surface tension and capillary forces. In this sintering, liquid phase formation and
solid solution formation also occurs with densification.
First theory was proposed by Sauerwald in 1922. This theory says that two stages are
involved in sintering namely adhesion and recrystallisation. Adhesion occurs during heating
due to atomic attraction and recrystallisation occurs at recrystallisation temperature (above 0.5
Tm.p.). In Recrystallisation, microstructure changes, phase changes, grain growth, shrinkage
occurs.
Property Changes during Sintering: Various property changes during sintering is shown in Figure 14 and describe below.
i.

Densification is proportional to the shrinkage or the amount of pores removed in the


case of single component system.

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ii.

Mechanical Engineering Department

In Multicomponent system, expansion rather than shrinkage will result in densification


and hence densification cannot be treated as equal to the amount of porosity removed.

iii.

Densification results in mechanical property change like hardness, strength, toughness,


physical properties like electrical, thermal conductivity, magnetic properties etc. Also
change in composition is expected due to the formation of solid solution.

Figure 15: Inert Atmosphere Tubular Furnace.

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Figure 16: Sintered Pallet produced after Sintering under N2 Atmosphere

Sintering cycle

6000C

Soaking Time

Figure 17: Thermal Cycle for Microwave and Conventional Sintering of Al Alloy

V)

Secondary operations:

Operations include repressing, grinding, plating can be done. They are used to ensure
close dimensional tolerances, good surface finish, increase density & corrosion resistance etc.

3.3 Physical Properties of Produced Pallet: 3.3.1 Density of produced pallet:The mass density or density of a material is its mass per unit volume. The symbol
most often used for density is . mathematically; density is defined as mass divided by
volume.

Where is the density, m is the mass, and V is the volume. In some cases (for instance, in
the United States oil and gas industry), density is also defined as its weight per unit volume,
although this quantity is more properly called specific weight. Its unit is g/cm3.
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3.3.2 Theoretical Density:Density of a pore free powder compact (practically not attainable) is known as theoretical
density and represented by th. Unit of theoretical density is g/cm3.
Theoretical density of powder mixture:Sintered components are usually manufactured from mixes of unalloyed or low alloyed
iron powder with additives like graphite, other metal powders & lubricants. Compact density
attainable with such powder mixes are of coursed, influenced by the specific weight and the
relative amount of the additives and of impurities if any. The pore free density (th) of a
powder mix is calculated as follows:

Fe be the specific weight of iron powder (base powder).


WFe be the weight percentage of iron powder.

1, 2, 3, 4...be the specific weight of additives and impurities.


W1, W2, W3, W4...be the weight percentage of additives and impurities.
Then, the theoretical achievable pore free density of powder mix is given by

th =100 / (WFe / Fe + W1/ 1 + W2/ 2 + W3 / 3 + W4 / 4 + ......)


3.3.3 Apparent Density: - Density of the pallet when the powder fill with free fall without
any pressure (due to gravity).
3.3.4 Green Density:
Density of the pallet produced by compaction is known as green density.
3.3.5 Sintered Density:
Density of the pallet produced by compaction after sintering (heat treatment) is known as
sintered density. The densities of the green compacts were determined from the mass and the
dimensions of the compacts, while the densities of the sintered compacts were determined
using the Archimedes principle.

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3.4 Densification Factor (DF): The densification factor for all sintered specimens was defined, using the formula:
DF = (Sd Gd) / (Td Gd)
Where DF is densification factor, Sd is sintered density, Gd is green density, and Td is
theoretical density. A negative densification coefficient indicates expansion, while a positive
value represents shrinkage.

3.5 Mechanical Behaviour of Produced Pallet: 3.5.1 Hardness of sintered pallet:Hardness is a measure of how resistant solid matter is to various kinds of permanent shape
change when a force is applied. It is also defined as the resistance to indentation or scratching
or surface abrasion.
There are two methods of hardness measurement:
iii.

Scratch Hardness: - Commonly measure by Mohrs test.

iv.

Indentation Hardness (Abrasion): - measured by


Brinell hardness number (BHN)
Rockwell hardness number (HRB, HRC, etc.)
Vickers hardness number (VHN)
Knoop hardness number

For the present study of hardness Rockwell Hardness tester (B - scale) is used as shown in
Figure 18 and pallets after hardness test is shown in Figure 19.
Rockwell Hardness Test (B Scale): Ball dia. of indenter = 1.588mm or, 1/16 inch
Ball Type = Steel Ball
Test Load = 100 Kgf

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Figure 18: Rockwell Hardness Tester

Figure 19: Pallets after Hardness Test

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3.6 Wear and Wear Mechanism


3.6.1 Wear: It is defined as a process of removal of material from one or both of two solid surfaces
in solid contact. Wear is defined as the damage to a solid surface, generally involving the
progressive loss of material, due to relative motion between two moving surfaces. Such a
process is complicated, involving time-dependent deformation, failure and removal of
materials at the counter face.
3.6.2 Wear Mechanisms: -Common types of wear mechanisms are Abrasive wear, Solid
particle erosion, Sliding and adhesive wear, Fretting wear, Corrosive wear & Impact wear. In
the present study we are focus on the Sliding Wear. This sliding wear test is conducted on pin
on disc Wear & friction tester machine as shown in Figure 20.
Sliding and adhesive wear: It is a type of wear generated by the sliding of one solid surface against another.
Erosion, cavitations, rolling contact, abrasion, oxidative wear, fretting, and corrosion are
traditionally excluded from the class of "sliding" wear problems even though some sliding
may take place in some of these types of wear. Apparently, sliding wear is a type of wear that
is "left over" when all other types of wear have been identified under separate headings.
Although sliding wear and adhesive wear are not synonymous, Adhesive wear is as
ambiguously defined as sliding wear. This phenomenon denotes a wearing action in which no
specific agency can be identified as the cause of wear. Adhesive wear is said to occur if no
abrasive substances are found, amplitude of sliding is greater than that in fretting and
oxidation does not take place.
3.6.3 Wear Testing (Pin-on-Disk Wear Testing ASTM G99 Standard): IEICOS wear and friction tester (pin on disk tester) is used for analyzing wear and
frictional characteristics of pin contact on a rotating disk. The wear and friction tester is
usually operated in dry conditions but can also be operated under lubricated conditions.
Various materials can be tested on the IEICOS wear and friction tester (pin on disk machine
model IWFT-DD as shown in Figure 20).

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IEICOS wear and friction tester consists of a stationary stylus pin and a hardened
rotating disk below it. The pin which is held by a chuck is loaded against the rotating disk
using a lever arrangement and the other end of the lever is provided with a loading
arrangement using weights and loading pan. Hence, the load of the pin on disk can be varied
by adding weights to the loading pan. The same is measured using the load cell provided in
series with the loading pan and display on the axial force display. The instrument is also
provided with an AC motor driven by an electronic motor controller for accurate speed
control of the rotating disk. The digital display is provided for indication of both speed and a
digital counter with a reset button is provided for indication of revolution counts shown in
Figure 21. A frictional force sensor is also provided for measurement of frictional force of the
pin on the rotating disk and the frictional force is indicated on the digital display for friction
force. A LVDT displacement sensor is provided to measure the wear in real time and the wear
of the pin is displayed on the digital display. Also, wear track diameter can be varied by
moving the pin forward and backward using the bolts provided.

Specification of wear and friction tester: Model: - IWFT-DD


Disk Rotating Range: - 100-1500 RPM
Maximum Normal Load: - 20 kg
Frictional Force Range: - 0-20 kg
Wear Measurement Range: - 0-4 mm
Pin Size: - 3-12 mm
Disk Size: - 160 mm dia. X 8 mm thick
Operating Voltage: - 230v AC 50 HZ

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Figure 20: Pin on Disk Wear & Friction Force Tester

Figure 21: Digital Display Unit of Wear and Friction Force Tester
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Initialization of Pin-on Disk Tester: There are some initializations steps consider before starting the experiment which are
given below: 1. After all the connections the friction and wear tester is installed, the instrument can be
turned ON.
2. Ensure the rotating disk is not rotating.
3. The following displays are initialized as below:
a. Axial load:
i.

Connect the axial load sensor

ii.

Without any load applied the display should read 00.0

iii.

If it is not showing the 00.0 value then set the display to read 00.0
using the tare button.

iv.

The display is now ready to measure the axial load.

v.
b. Frictional force:
i.

Connect the frictional force sensor

ii.

Without any load applied and the instrument not running the display should
read 00.0

iii.

If it is not showing the 00.0 value then set the display to read 00.0
using the tare button

iv.

The display is now ready to measure the frictional force.

c. Displacement:
i.

Disconnect the displacement LVDT sensor

ii.

Press tare button if the display is not showing 00.0

iii.

Connect the LVDT displacement sensor

iv.

Set the mechanical zero of the sensor by moving the shaft of the sensor

v.

Display is now ready to measure the displacement.

d. Speed:
i.

Connect the speed sensor

ii.

The display is ready to display the speed.

e. Revolutions:
i.

Press the reset button to reset the revolution counter to zero

ii.

The display is ready to count revolutions.

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4. The speed of the motor should be kept minimum at F 3.4, this can be done by
pressing the down arrow button on the motor controller.
5. If the environmental chamber is used then set the temperature in controller using INC
and DEC arrow.
6.

If the temperature is below the temperature limit then the LED will glow and the
temperature starts to rise.

7. Once it crosses the temperature limit the LED will be OFF and temperature will keep
on reducing after some time till it falls below the temperature limit.
8. The instrument is initialized and ready to operate now.
9. Do not connect the coolant while using the environmental chamber.

Operating Instruction of the Instrument without using the Environmental


Chamber: 1. After the above initialization the instrument is now ready to operate.
2. The specimen is initially weighed using the precision electronic balance and the
weight noted. The length and diameter of the specimen is also noted.
3. The specimen pin is fixed in the chuck provided.
4. Now the axial load is increased on the pin by applying weights on the loading pan in
steps using the weights provided.
5. The motor can be started by pressing the RUN/STOP button on the motor controller.
6. The speed of the motor can be varied by pressing the UP or DOWN arrow on the
motor controller.
7. Once the motor is started press the tare button of the displacement indicator if the
display varies (may be because of ground noise when motor starts).
8. The pin is loaded on the rotating disk for a period of 5 min or any other time as
decided and the friction force is noted at regular intervals, the wear displacement is
also noted.
9. The experiment is repeated for different speed with constant load or with different
load with constant speed according to the requirement.
10. The specimen pin is removed and weighed again. The post-test weight is noted.
11. The wear weight loss is the difference of initial weight and final weight.

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3.6.4 Formulas for calculating wear:-The wear tests on the samples are carried out
by varying the sliding speeds, sliding distances and applied load. The effects of these
parameters have been studied and calculated by given relations.

Sliding speed (m/s) =


Sliding distance (m) =
Where D = wear track diameter in m, N= speed of disc in RPM

Wear Weight Loss (gram) = (initial Weight Final Weight)

Where W=

(mm3/m)

N=Newton, D=Sliding Distance (m), H=Hardness (N/mm2)


3.7 Wear Test using Pin-on-Disk Wear and Friction Tester: IEICOS wear and friction tester (pin on disk tester) is used for analyzing wear and
frictional characteristics of pin contact on a rotating disc for this study. The wear and friction
tester is usually operated in dry conditions but can also be operated under lubricated
conditions. Various materials can be tested on the IEICOS wear and friction tester (pin on
disk machine model IWFT-DD).
IEICOS wear and friction tester consists of a stationary stylus pin and a hardened
rotating disk below it. The pin which is held by a chuck is loaded against the rotating disk
using a lever arrangement and the other end of the lever is provided with a loading
arrangement using weights and loading pan. Hence, the load of the pin on disk can be varied
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by adding weights to the loading pan. The same is measured using the load cell provided in
series with the loading pan and display on the axial force display. The instrument is also
provided with a AC motor driven by an electronic motor controller for accurate speed control
of the rotating disk. The digital display is provided for indication of both speed and a digital
counter with a reset button is provided for indication of revolution counts. A frictional force
sensor is also provided for measurement of frictional force of the pin on the rotating disk and
the frictional force is indicated on the digital display for friction force. A LVDT displacement
sensor is provided to measure the wear in real time and the wear of the pin is displayed on the
digital display. Also, wear track diameter can be varied by moving the pin forward and
backward using the bolts provided.
In the present experimental study, four parameters such as Reinforcement (weight % of
SiC and weight % of Gr), Sliding distance, Load and

have been considered as

process variables with 4 levels each. The levels have been so selected based on the affects of
these parameters on the outputs. Taguchi method is a robust technique which provides an
effective way to reduce the number of experiments and save costs. Since it is not easy to
perform all the experiments, Taguchis orthogonal array method is used instead of full
factorial method to reduce the number of experiments which gives the similar results as in full
factorial method. Hence Experiments have been carried out using L16 orthogonal array
experimental design, which consists of 16 combinations of Reinforcement (weight % of SiC+
weight % of Gr), Sliding distance, Load and Sliding speed at five levels, has been used to
record the response.

3.8 Process Parameter and Their Levels: Table 19: Process Parameters & Their levels for Wear Test.
Level

Sliding Speed (m/min)

160

180

200

220

Distance(m)

1000

2000

3000

4000

Load (N)

10

20

30

40

Reinforcement

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CHAPTER 4: METHODOLOGY

4.1 Taguchi Method


Traditional experimental design methods are very complicated and difficult to use.
Additionally, these methods require a large number of experiments when the number of
process parameters increases. In order to minimize the number of tests required, Taguchi
experimental design method, a powerful tool for designing high-quality system, was
developed by Taguchi. This method uses a design of orthogonal arrays to study the entire
parameter space with small number of experiments only. Taguchi recommends analyzing the
mean response for each run in the inner array, and he also suggests to analyze variation using
an appropriately chosen signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). There are 3 Signal-to-Noise ratios of
common interest for optimization of static problems:

Signal-to-Noise Ratio
Dr. Taguchi proposed a class of statistics called signal-to-noise ratios (S/N) which can be used
to measure the effect of noise factors on the process performance. By maximizing the S/N
ratios, the loss functions are minimized. These S/N ratios take into account both the amount
of variability and closeness to the average response. The performance characteristic is
analysis of the S/N ratio, that is, the lower-the-better, the higher-the-better, and the nominalthe-better. The S/N ratio for each level of process parameters is computed based on the S/N
analysis. Regardless of the category of the performance characteristic, the larger S/N ratio
corresponds to the better performance characteristic. Therefore, the optimal level of the
process parameters is the level with the highest S/N ratio g. Furthermore, a statistical analysis
of variance (ANOVA) is performed to see which process parameters are statistically
significant. With the S/N and ANOVA analysis, the optimal combination of the process
parameters can be predicted. Finally, a confirmation experiment is conducted to verify the
optimal process parameters obtained from the parameter design.

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[i] Smaller-the-better
This is expressed as

This is usually the chosen S/N ratio for all the undesirable characteristics like defects for
which the ideal value is zero.
[ii] Larger-the-better
This is expressed as
Mean of sum of squares of reciprocal of measured datas]

This is often converted to smaller-the-better by taking the reciprocal of the measured data and
next, taking the S/N ratio as in the smaller-the-better case.

4.2 Design of experiments:In the present experimental study, four parameters such as Reinforcement (10% SiCp
and varying % of C) by weight, Sliding distance, Load and Sliding Speed have been
considered as process variables with 4 levels each. The levels have been so selected based on
the affects of these parameters on the outputs. Taguchi method is a robust technique which
provides an effective way to reduce the number of experiments and save costs. Since it is not
easy to perform all the experiments, Taguchis orthogonal array method is used instead of full
factorial method to reduce the number of experiments which gives the similar results as in full
factorial method. Hence Experiments have been carried out using L16 orthogonal array
experimental design, which consists of 16 combinations of Reinforcement (weight % of
SiCp+weight% of C), Sliding distance, Load and sliding speed at four levels, has been used to
record the response. The selection of array is based on the array selector Table 7 given below.
The experimental array which was generated using MINITAB16 software. L16 array for the
present study is shown in Table 8.

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4.3 Taguchi based Grey Relational Analysis to Optimize the Multi Response
Problem:
4.3.1 Grey Relational Analysis
In the Grey relational analysis the quality characteristics are first normalized, ranging from
zero to one. This process is known as Grey Relational Generation. Then the Grey Relational
Coefficient based on normalized experimental data is calculated to represent the correlation
between the desired and the actual experimental data. Then overall Grey Relational Grade
(GRG) is determined by averaging the Grey relational coefficient corresponding to selected
responses. The overall performance characteristic of the multiple response process depends
on the calculated GRG. This Grey relational approach converts a multiple response process
optimization problem into a single response optimization problem. The optimal parametric
combination is then evaluated, which would result in the highest Grey relational grade. The
optimal factor setting for maximizing the overall Grey relational grade can be performed
using the Taguchi method.
In Grey relational generation, the normalized MRR should follow the larger-the-better (LB)
criterion, which can be expressed as:

The normalized Ra should follow the smaller-the-better (SB) criterion which can be expressed
as

Where, xi (k) and xj(k) are the value after Grey Relational Generation for LB and SB criteria.
Max yi(k) is the largest value of yi(k) for kth response and min yi(k) is the minimum value of

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yi(k) for the kth response. The Grey relational coefficient i (k) can be calculated.

Where oi is the difference between absolute value xo(k) and xi(k). is the distinguishing
coefficient 0 1. min and max are the minimum and maximum value among the oi
for corresponding kth response. Now the Grey Relational Grade (GRG) can be calculated as:

Where n - number of process responses.


The higher value of the GRG corresponds to a relational degree between the Reference
Sequence xo(k) and the given sequence xi(k). The Reference Sequence xo(k) represents the
best process sequence. Therefore, a higher GRG means that the corresponding parameter
combination is closer to the optimal. The mean response for the GRG and the main effect plot
of the GRG are very important.

Step 5: Grey Relational Order: Grey Relational order is the order of grey relational grade in decreasing order.
Step 6: Analysis of Variance (ANOVA): Performing statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the input parameters with the
grey relational grade to find which parameter significantly affects the process using MINI
Tab16 software.

Step 7: Response Table for Grey relational Grade: Calculate the Grey Relational Grade for Response Table for each process parameters
at their different levels and select the maximum value for grey relation grade for each process
parameters from all the levels.

Step 8: Selection of Optimal levels of Process Parameters: By choosing the maximum value of grey relational grade from response table for each
process parameters at their different level we can find the optimal levels of process
parameters.
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Step 9: Conformation Test: Conduct the conformation experiment and verify the optimal process parameter setting
by selecting the optimal combination of process parameters.
The characteristics that higher value represents desired response, such as hardness of the
composites, higher the best/larger the best (LB), LB and the characteristic that lower value
represents desired response, such as wear rate and density (for light weight material) lower
the best/smaller the best (SB) are used. Therefore, LB for the hardness and SB for the
density and wear rate has been selected for obtaining optimal performance characteristics.

4.4 Predictive Equation and Verification


The predicted values of GRG, MRR and Ra at the optimal levels are calculated by using the
relation:

Where, - Predicted response value after optimization.


nm Total mean value of quality characteristic.
nim Mean value of quality characteristic at optimum level of each parameter.
o Number of main machining parameters that affect.

4.5 General Linear Model (ANOVA) for given Problem: ANOVA is a statistical technique which can infer some important conclusions based
on analysis of the experimental data. This method is rather useful for revealing the level of
significance of the influence of factors or their interaction on a particular response. It
separates the total variability of the response into contributions of each of the factors and the
error. Using Minitab, ANOVA is performed to determine which parameter and interaction
significantly affect the performance characteristics.
The results shown below ANOVA result for wear behaviour of AA6061-SiC-C hybrid
metal matrix composites. ANOVA calculates the F-ratio, which is the ratio between the
regression mean square and the mean square error. The F-ratio, also called the variance ratio,
is the ratio of variance due to the effect of a factor and variance due to the error term. This
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ratio is used to measure the significance of the parameters under investigation with respect to
the variance of all the terms included in the error term at the desired significance level, . If
the calculated value of the F-ratio is higher than the tabulated value of the F-ratio, then the
factor is significant at a desired level. In general, when the F value increases the
significance of the parameter also increases. The ANOVA table shows the percentage
contribution of each parameter.

4.6 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Analysis:


The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) uses a focused beam of high-energy
electrons to generate a variety of signals at the surface of solid specimens. The signals that
derive from electron-sample interactions reveal information about the sample including
external morphology of the sample.
In a typical SEM, an electron beam is emitted from an electron gun fitted with
a tungsten filament cathode. Tungsten is normally used in thermionic electron guns because it
has the highest melting point and lowest vapour pressure of all metals, thereby allowing it to
be heated for electron emission, and because of its low cost. One or two condenser lenses
focus the electron beam. The beam passes through pairs of scanning coils or pairs of deflector
plates in the electron column, typically in the final lens, which deflect the beam in
the x and y axes so that it scans in a raster fashion over a rectangular area of the sample
surface.
Accelerated electrons in an SEM carry significant amounts of kinetic energy, and this
energy is dissipated as a variety of signals produced by electron-sample interactions when the
incident electrons are decelerated in the solid sample. These signals include secondary
electrons that produce SEM images, backscattered electrons, diffracted backscattered
electrons, visible light, and heat. Secondary electrons are most valuable for showing
morphology and topography on samples. Electronic amplifiers of various types are used to
amplify the signals, which are displayed as variations in brightness on a computer monitor.
Each pixel of computer is synchronized with the position of the beam on the specimen in the
microscope, and the resulting image is therefore a distribution map of the intensity of the
signal being emitted from the scanned area of the specimen. SEM analysis is considered to be
non-destructive that is signals generated by electron interactions do not lead to volume loss of
the sample, so it is possible to analyze the same materials repeatedly.

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4.7 Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy:


Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS or EDX) is an analytical technique used for the
elemental analysis or chemical characterization of a sample. It relies on the investigation of an
interaction of some source of X-ray excitation. Its characterization capabilities are due
enlarge part to the fundamental principle that each element has a unique structure allowing
unique set of peaks on its X-rays spectrum.

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CHAPTER-5

Mechanical Engineering Department

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

5.1 Density of Produced Pallets: 5.1.1 Theoretical Density and Composition of Each Composite:Density of a pore free powder compact (practically not attainable) is known as
theoretical density and represented by th. Unit of theoretical density is g/cm3. The
chemical composition of composites and theoretical density is given below in Table 9, 10,
11, 12 and 13 respectively.

I.

Plane AA6061 Alloy: - 100 gram powder


Table 10: Weight and Composition of AA6061+10%SiC (by Vol.)
Composite

Composition

weight %

AA6061
(90%weight) +
SiC (10%.)

SiC
AA6061

10
87

Density
(gm/cc)
3.21
2.714

Weight (gm)/
200gram
20
94.14

Total

100

Table 10
II.

AA6061 Alloy + (SiC-10%+ C-3%): Table 11: Weight and composition of AA6061-87% + SiC -10% +C-3%

III.

Composite

Composition

weight %

AA6061
(87%weight) +
SiC (10 %.)+3%C

SiC
C
AA6061

10
3
87

Density
(gm/cc)
3.21
2.23
2.714
Total

Weight (gm)/
100gram
10
3
87
100

AA6061 Alloy (85%) + SiC-10%+C-5%): Table 12: Weight and composition of AA6061-85% + SiC-10% +C-5%)
Composite

Composition

weight %

AA6061 (85%) +
(SiC 10%+C 5%)

SiC
C
AA6061

10
5
85

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Density
(gm/cc)
3.21
2.20
2.714
Total

Weight (gm)/
100gram
10
5
85
100

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IV AA6061 Alloy (85%) + SiC (10%): - 100 gram powder


Table 13: Weight and composition of AA6061-83% + SiC -10% +C-7%
Composite

Composition

volume %

AA6061 (83%) +
SiC (10%) +C (7%)

SiC
C
AA6061

10
7
85

Density
(gm/cc)
3.21
2.23
2.714
Total

Weight (gm)/
100gram
10
7
83
100

Theoretical Density of Pallets (Work Material):Table 14: Theoretical density of pallets


Sample
Number
1.
2.
3.
4.

Sample

Theoretical
Density (g/cc)
2.71
2.74
2.76
2.75

AA6061 alloy+ (10% SiC by weight.)


AA6061 alloy (87%l.) + SiC (10%)+3% C
AA6061 alloy (85%l.) + SiC (10%)+5% C
AA6061 alloy (83%l.) + SiC (10%)+7% C

5.1.2 Sintered Density of Produced Pallets: Density of the pallet produced by compaction after sintering (heat treatment) is known
as sintered density. The densities of the sintered compacts were determined using the
Archimedes principle. Its unit is gm/cc & generally expressed in terms of achieved % of
theoretical density. Since the density of SiCp is higher than AA6061, the addition of SiCp and
Gr leads to increase in density of the material as long as the reinforcement are uniformly
distributed in the matrix and no SiCp cluster are formed. Reinforcement concentration of
about 15% of SiCp leading to increase in density after that for 20% SiCp leading to decrease
in density despite the increase in SiC content in the composites. Figure 26 shows the density
variation with % of SiCp by volume is given in Table 16. Figure 22 shows the achieved %
density variation with variation in % of SiCp by volume.
Table 15: Sintered Density of Produced Pallets
Sample
Number
1.
2.
3.
4.

Sample
AA6061 alloy+ (10% SiC.)
AA6061 alloy (87 %) + SiC10%+C-3%
AA6061 alloy (85 %.) + SiC (10%)+ C-5%
AA6061 alloy (83 %.) + SiC (10%)+ C-7%

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Sintered
Density (g/cc)
2.65
2.67
2.9
2.71

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5.2 Densification Factor (D.F.) of Produced Pallets: The densification factor for all sintered specimens was defined, using the formula:

DF = (Sd Gd) / (Td Gd)


Where DF is densification factor, Sd is sintered density, Gd is green density, and Td is
theoretical density. A negative densification coefficient indicates expansion, while a positive
value represents shrinkage. Hera in the entire cases densification factor is positive so it
indicates the shrinkage of material as shown in Figure 23. Initially up to 15% of SiCp
observed trend of densification factor is increasing after that again it starts decreasing that
indicates that the density decrease after 15% by volume of SiCp content. Densification factor
of composites used in present study is given in Table 17.
Table 16: Density of Sintered Pallets
Sample
Number

Sample

1.
2.
3.
4.

AA6061 alloy+ (SiC-10%)


AA6061 alloy (87%) + SiC-10%+C-3%
AA6061 alloy (85%) + SiC-10%+ C-5%
AA6061 alloy (83%) + SiC-10% + C-7%

Sintered
Density
(g/cc)
2.65
2.67
2.69
2.71

5.3 Hardness and density table for Produced Pallet at different Composition.

Serial
Number

Table 17
Reinforcement
Hardness
varying % of C
(HRB)

Sintered
density (gm/cc)

22

2.65

25

2.67

3
4

5
7

27
32

2.69
2.8

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5.4 L16 Orthogonal Array for Wear Test: Table 18: L16 Orthogonal Array for Control Factor
STD.
15
7
6
4
12
3
9
5
16
13
10
11
2
14
1
8

RUN
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

SPEED
220
180
180
160
200
160
200
180
220
220
200
200
160
220
160
180

RPM
875.7962
716.5605
716.5605
636.9427
796.1783
636.9427
796.1783
716.5605
875.7962
875.7962
796.1783
796.1783
636.9427
875.7962
636.9427
716.5605

DIST.
3000
3000
2000
4000
4000
3000
1000
1000
4000
1000
2000
3000
2000
2000
1000
4000

LOAD
20
40
10
40
20
30
30
20
10
40
40
10
20
30
10
30

REINF.
7
0
7
7
0
5
7
5
5
3
5
3
3
0
0
3

CYCLE TIME
13.6364
16.6667
11.111
25
20
18.75
5
5.555
18.1818
4.5454
10
15
12.5
9.0909
6.25
22.2222

5.5 Response Table for the given L16 Orthogonal Array:Response Table for experimental run is shown in below table respectively.
Response table for the given L16 orthogonal array Table 19
SPEED(m/min) Distance(m) Load(N)
160
1000
10
160
2000
20
160
3000
30
160
4000
40
180
1000
20
180
2000
10
180
3000
40
180
4000
30
200
1000
30
200
2000
40
200
3000
10
200
4000
20
220
1000
40
220
2000
30
220
3000
20
220
4000
10

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Reinf. (%)
0
3
5
7
5
7
0
3
7
5
3
0
3
0
7
7

Wear
Loss(gm/cc)
0.0081
0.0056
0.00654
0.0059
0.0056
0.0014
0.0239
0.013841
0.0038
0.0099
0.0091
0.0186
0.014985
0.0241
0.0049
0.0059

Wear Coeff.(E-4)
3.362
8.267
9.654
1.66
5.981
4.913
1.295
1.591
3.284
1.26
5.571
6.641
1.754
3.336
6.027
3.885

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5.6 Grey Relational Analysis for Multiple Responses:Table 20


S.NO
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

GRGC
WEAR
WEAR
LOSS
COEFICIENT
0.7048
0.7496
0.0088
0.1652
0.2423
0.0000
0.0000
0.9523
0.8150
0.4376
0.4519
0.5648
0.6608
0.9958
0.4015
0.9606
0.7736
0.7589
0.8150
1.0000
0.6256
0.4864
0.8018
0.3589
0.8018
0.9411
1.0000
0.7527
0.8943
0.4321
0.8458
0.6873

RSDC
WEAR
LOSS
0.2952
0.9912
0.7577
1.0000
0.1850
0.5481
0.3392
0.5985
0.2264
0.1850
0.3744
0.1982
0.1982
0.0000
0.1057
0.1542

WEAR
COEFICIENT
0.2504
0.8348
1.0000
0.0477
0.5624
0.4352
0.0042
0.0394
0.2411
0.0000
0.5136
0.6411
0.0589
0.2473
0.5679
0.3127

WEAR
LOSS
0.6288
0.3353
0.3975
0.3333
0.7299
0.4771
0.5958
0.4552
0.6883
0.7299
0.5718
0.7161
0.7161
1.0000
0.8255
0.7643

GRCC
WEAR
COEFICIENT
0.6663
0.3746
0.3333
0.9130
0.4706
0.5346
0.9917
0.9269
0.6747
1.0000
0.4933
0.4382
0.8947
0.6691
0.4682
0.6152

Table 21
S.NO
GRG
S/N Ratio
Rank
1
0.64755
-6.9831
8
2
0.35495 -10.3154
16
3
0.36544
-3.5378
15
4
0.62316
-5.6273
10
5
0.60026
-1.3098
11
6
0.50586
-4.9458
14
7
0.79377 -11.1658
4
8
0.69104
-8.1555
5
9
0.68147
-2.3592
7
10
0.86495
-1.2232
1
11
0.53254
-7.2794
13
12
0.57714 -10.5408
12
13
0.80539
-3.7345
3
14
0.83453
-9.2363
2
15
0.64683
-5.2429
9
16
0.68976
-2.1695
6
Clearly indicates that the maximum grey relation grade occurs for the experiment number 10.
This indicates that the optimum results come for the experimental run 10. (A2B1C2D3)

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This optimized level is only for 16 experiments in which at this level we got minimum wear
loss and minimum wear coefficient. According to this level of parameters we got 0.0056 gm
of wear loss and (5.981*E-4). From this optimum level we can not say that this is the
optimum level for our responses because we have not conduct full factorial design of
experiment.
5.7 Taguchi Analysis: wear loss (gm versus speed (m/min, distance (m), load (N),
reinforcement.

Analysis of Variance for Means:Source


speed
(m/min)
distance(m)

DF
3
3

Seq SS

Adj SS

Adj MS

0.000078 0.000078 0.000026


0.000024 0.000024 0.000008

P%

9.07
2.72

0.051 10.65
0.216 3.2
18.85
0.000138 0.000138 0.000046 15.98 0.024
0.000484 0.000484 0.000161 56.13 0.004 66.12

load(N)
3
reinf.(%)
3
Residual
Error
3
0.000009 0.000009 0.000003
Total
15 0.000732
S = 0.001696 R-Sq = 98.8% R-Sq(adj) = 94.1%
Table 22

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Response Table for Means of S/N Ratio:-

Level
1
2
3
4
Delta
Rank

Speed(m/min)
43.78
42.93
40.98
39.91
3.88
3

Table 23
distance(m)
42.94
43.64
40.78
40.24
3.4
4

load(N)
46.08
42.72
40.41
38.4
7.68
2

reinf.(%)
35.31
39.88
43.35
49.07
13.76
1

For wear loss we got optimum level of parameters S1D2L1R4 in Full Factorial Design.

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5.8 Taguchi Analysis: GRG versus speed (m/min), distance (m), load (N),
reinf.(%)
Analysis of Variance for Means:Source
speed (m/min)
distance(m)
load(N)
reinff.(%)
Residual Error
Total

DF
3
3
3
3
3
15

Seq SS
0.023636
0.105459
0.008575
0.428466
0.000544
0.566679

Adj SS
0.023636
0.105459
0.008575
0.428466
0.000544

Adj MS
0.007879
0.035153
0.002858
0.142822
0.000181

F
P
43.48 0.006
194.02 0.001
15.78 0.024
788.27 0.0035

P%
4.17
18.60
1.51
75.60

Table 24

Response Table for Means:Table 25


Level
1
2
3
4
Delta
Rank

speed
(m/min)
0.4853
0.5234
0.5717
0.5804
0.0951
3

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Distance(m) Load(N) Reinf. (%)


0.6801
0.5613
0.3416
0.5028
0.5022
0.4448
0.4803
0.541
0.7748
0.4976
0.5562
0.5995
0.1997
0.0591
0.4332
2
4
1
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5.8.1 Optimum level of main factor for wear loss and wear coefficient:By applying the GRA we convert the multiple responses into single response. With the help
of Taguchi analysis GRG value has been analysed .This methodology suggests an optimum
levels of different parameters for minimum wear loss and minimum wear coefficient. Taguchi
analysis gives Response table and Main effect plot for GRG which will suggest one optimum
level of parameters for minimum wear loss and minimum wear coefficient in full factorial set
of experiment.
So from the response table and main effect plot we got optimum level of parameter is
S4D1L1R3
5.8.1 Conformation Test: So for the available set of experiment this optimum level of parameters (S4D1L1R3) is not
available so we have to perform the test on this optimum level of parameters.
After the optimal level of testing parameters have been found, it is necessary that
verification tests are carried out in order to evaluate the accuracy of the analysis and to
validate the experimental results. The optimal parameter combination for achieving minimum
wear loss and wear coefficient is obtained within the conducted experiment using grey
relational analysis. Larger GRG value will be given as rank one. So on the basis of this GRG
rank we got the optimum level S2D1L2D3 i.e. Sliding Speed 180m/min, Sliding Distance
1000m, Load 20N, Reinforcement (C-5% by weight). With this set of experiment we got
0.0056 gm of material has been lost. S2D1L2D3

Confirmation test was carried out by using optimal set of experiment. (S4D1L1R3) in
full factorial set of experiment.
5.8.2 Predictive Equation and Validation of results.
The predicted values of wear loss at the optimal levels are calculated by using the relation:

Where,
- Predicted response value after optimization,
Nm Total mean value of quality characteristic,
nim Mean value of quality characteristic at optimum level of each parameter and
O Number of main machining parameters that affect the response parameter.
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We got a wear loss, wear coefficient by conducting experiment on optimum level of


parameter (A4B1C1D3) which is found by Taguchi Analysis.

So now applying predictive equation for optimum level of parameter we got the predictive
wear loss, wear coefficient within the available set of experiment.

Avg.
Reinf.
Load
Distance
Speed
Predicted wt loss.(gm)

0.010141625
0.006985
0.006125
0.00812125
0.01247125
0.003277625

5.8.3 Percentage error:-

(Experimental value - Predicted value)


Predicted value
(0.00356-0.00327)
(0.00327)
The result of the confirmation test for Wear loss is 0.00356gm, and the prediction
value of wear loss is less 0.00327gm. Percentage error is around 7.65%.

5.9 Microstructure Study:The samples have prepared and examined at different magnification (100X & 200X2).
Figures 35 to 38 (A 100X) and (B 200X) shows the micrograph and metallographic of the
cold die pressed sintered compacts (AA6061+10% SiCp+ (3, 5, 7) % of C). It indicates that
the presence of SiC and C particles distribution in the composite materials. Samples for
metallographic examination has prepared by grinding through 2000, 400, 600 & 800, grit
papers followed by disc polishing and etching using Kellers etchant. The micrographs of the
sample shown below:-

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5.9.1 Weight and Composition of AA6061+10%SiC+C% of each composite.

I.

Plane AA6061 Alloy: - 100 gram powder


Weight and Composition of AA6061+10%SiC+3%C

Composite

Composition

weight %

AA6061 (87%) +
SiC (10%)+(3%)C

SiC
C
AA6061

10
3
87

Density
(gm/cc)
3.21
2.23
2.714
Total

Weight (gm)/
200gram
20
6
94.14
100

Figure 35: A&B SEM Micrographs of Hybrid Metal Matrix Composites


(AA6061+10% SiC+3%C) by weight

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I.

Mechanical Engineering Department

Plane AA6061 Alloy: - 100 gram powder


Weight and Composition of AA6061+10%SiC+5% C

Composite

Composition

weight %

AA6061 (85%) +
SiC (10%) + C (5%)

SiC
C
AA6061

10
5
85

Density
(gm/cc)
3.21
2.20
2.714
Total

Weight (gm)/
100gram
11.63
2.23
88.37
100

Figure 35: A&B SEM Micrographs of Hybrid Metal Matrix Composites


(AA6061+10% SiC+5% C)

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I.

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Plane AA6061 Alloy: - 100 gram powder


Weight and Composition of AA6061+10%SiC+7% C
Hybrid Composite

Composition

weight %

AA6061 (85%) +
SiC (10%) +C(7%)

SiC
C
AA6061

10
7
83

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Density
(gm/cc)
3.21
2.20
2.714
Total

Weight (gm)/
100gram
11.63
2.23
88.37
100

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5.9.2 Wear Mechanism:Microstructure study of the wear tracks are carried out to analyze the wear mechanism
that the composites undergo during tribological testing. Figure 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34 shows
wear tracks of samples having four different volume fraction of reinforcement, AA6061,
AA6061+10% SiC, AA6061+10% SiC+3% C, AA6061+10% SiC+5% C and AA6061-10%
SiC+7% C respectively. From the SEM micrographs, it can be observed that the worn surface
mainly consists of pits and prows can be observed in the micrographs, thus occurrence of
adhesive wear is visible. So, from overall microstructure study it can be concluded that mostly
adhesive wear has taken place with some traces of abrasive wear.

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In the present investigation the effect of four process parameters weight fraction,
applied load, sliding speed and sliding distance on the wear behaviour of Al-SiC-C particulate
composite is studied. Apart from these, other factors like heat treatment, temperature change
and particle size of reinforcement are assumed constant during this experimental study. In
future, studies related to effects of these other factors on the wear behaviour of Al-SiC-C can
be carried out. The SEM micrograph of four different wear samples is shown below at
different magnification (100X and 200X).

Worn out Surface


Figure 30: A&B SEM Micrographs of Hybrid Metal Matrix Composites
AA6061+SiC (10%)

Worn out Surface


Figure 31: A&B SEM Micrographs of Hybrid Metal Matrix Composites
(AA6061 + 10% SiCp+ 3%C)

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Worn out Surface


Figure 32: A&B SEM Micrographs of Hybrid Metal Matrix Composites
(AA6061 + 10% SiCp+5% C)

Worn out Surface


Figure 34: A&B SEM Micrographs of Hybrid Metal Matrix Composites
(AA6061 + 10% SiCp+7% C)

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CONCLUSIONS
The present work has successfully demonstrated the production of aluminium 6061
based metal matrix composites with 10% of SiCp and varying percentage (0,3,5,7)% of C
(Graphite) by volume as reinforced through P/M route, characterization study of Aluminium
6061-based hybrid metal matrix composites. The conclusions drawn from the present work
are as follows:1) An attempt has been made to prepare samples of Aluminium 6061-based hybrid metal
matrix composites mix with 10 % of SiCp and varying composition (0%, 3%, 5%, and
7%) of C by volume through P/M route. After using cold die compaction the green
pallet production achieved. After sintering of the produced green pallet the sintered
density is studied and found to be slightly increased and decrease with varying
composition (0%, 3%, 5%, and 7%) of C (Graphite).
2) Hardness of the sintered sample is studied and found to be increasing with increasing
10% of SiC + (0%, 3%, 5%, 7%) of C (Graphite).
3) Wear loss of the sintered sample is studied using L16 orthogonal array having four
control factors such as, sliding speed, Sliding distance, Load and % of reinforcement
four levels of each control factor and found to be decreasing weight loss with
increasing % of C (Graphite) up to 7% by volume. The highest Grey relational grade
of 0.8649 is observed for the experimental run 10.The average Grey relational grade,
which indicates that the optimal combination of control factors and their levels
are180m/s Sliding speed , 1000m Sliding distance, 20N load 5% C.
4) The order of importance for the controllable factors to the minimum wear in sequence
is the Reinforcement %, Load, Sliding Speed and Sliding distance; order to the
minimum wear. Sliding distance is almost not affecting the wear.
5) However, it is observed through ANOVA that the Reinforcement % is the most
influential control factor among the four process parameters investigated in the present
work. This gives 94.2% R-Seq (adj.) at 98.8% of confidence level.
6) From the Taguchi based Grey Relational analysis the optimal combination of process
parameters for minimum wear, and minimum coefficient of wear is found to be
S4D1L1R3, i.e., at higher sliding speed, along with lowest level of applied load, and
sliding distance and at third level of reinforcement (% of c). With this combination
we found that the wear is less than other all experimental value in the DOE.

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7) From the present study it is revealed that a proper control of process parameters can
results in improved design of the Al-based MMCS.
8) From the microstructure study of wear surface and distribution of Reinforcement
particles it is observed that mostly wear is adhesive wear mechanism has occurred on
the wear track with some traces of abrasive wear mechanism and reinforcement
particles are uniformly distributed up to 15% after that higher density particles are
segregated some were.

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FUTURE SCOPE
The MMCs market place can be broken down into mainly five specific categories
such as: - Structural, Military, Aerospace, automobile & commercial and recreational. The
study provides details on the structural, military, aerospace & automotive sector. Significant
research and development interest world wise has been generated towards MMCS. The main
scope for this study is to reduce the weight at the same time increase the strength of the
component. Hybrid metal matrix composite reduces wear of component. These enhanced
properties increase the performance which is required in automotive, aerospace & structural
application.
However, particle-reinforced metals provide very good specific strength and stiffness,
isotropic properties, ease of manufacturing to near net shape, excellent thermal and electrical
properties, and affordability, making discontinuous MMCs suitable for a wide range of space
applications. The high structural efficiency and isotropic properties of discontinuously
reinforced metals provide a good match with the required multiaxial loading for truss nodes,
where high loads are encountered.

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