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Centre for Advanced Materials Processing, Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute, Mahatma Gandhi Avenue, Durgapur 713209, WB, India
National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science & Technology, Trivandrum, India
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 7 June 2007
Received in revised form
25 September 2007
Accepted 19 October 2007
Keywords:
Particulate reinforcement
Metal-matrix composites
Investment casting
Solidication
a b s t r a c t
The present study illustrates the manufacturing aspect of cast particulate metal-matrix composite (PMMC)
material through rapid-phototyping-integrated investment casting process. The uidity reduced from
base alloy to composite due to increase in viscosity of the melt in the presence of particulate. The manufacturing of complex shape and thin walled components with PMMC material poses a great difculty due
to their poor uidity. During investment casting, as the mould is preheated and dissipates heat very slowly,
particulate composite does not appreciably lose uidity but optimum preheat ceramic shell temperature
must be maintained during pouring. The dimensional variation from pattern to metallic part shows a very
minor difference because of proper allowance for the shrinkage of wax and metal, initially added to the
solid model. The SiC reinforced composite reached its peak hardness at an aging time of 4 h, whereas the
un-reinforced A356 alloy reached its peak hardness at 10 h of aging.
2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Particle-reinforced light metals are nowadays becoming
increasingly important due to their high potential as a material
with low cost, high strength as well as high wear resistance. The
factors that inuence the physical and mechanical properties of
these materials are very sensitive to the type of reinforcement,
mode of manufacturing [1,2] and the secondary processing. There
have been extensive investigations in the eld of cast metal-matrix
particulate-reinforced composites.
Liquid-metal processing has a great potential to achieve large
scale metal-matrix composites (MMCs) for production of net-shape
components and the mixing method is the most cost-effective way
to obtain discontinuously reinforced cast composite [36]. In the
synthesis of Al MMCs by liquid metallurgy route, the processing
temperature varies from 680 to 750 C. The uidity plays a crucial
role in castability of the alloy. It has been reported that the presence of reinforcement particle reduces the uidity of the melt [4],
the high temperature and long processing time may also reduce
the uidity. In Al alloy (low Si content) reinforced with high concentration of SiC, the uidity also reduces due to the formation of
Al4 C3 . Most of the commercial cast alloys display denite shrinkage
factors during solidication but such shrinkage is not yet standard-
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: bnmondal@rediffmail.com (B. Mondal).
0921-5093/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.msea.2007.10.126
38
0.25
0.36
0.35
6.5
0.6
0.35
Al
under pressure, which allows the melt to ow into the ber bundles [11]. In this system higher ultimate tensile strength combined
with reasonable castability have been observed. Experiments were
conducted to assess the suitability of ceramic moulds for use in the
pressure-assisted investment casting process [12].
In the present study, the attempts have been made to develop
the SiC reinforced PMMCs of Al alloy through stir-casting followed by manufacturing of cylinder head, a intricate component
and uidity test specimens through rapid-prototyping-integrated
investment casting. The microstructure and mechanical properties
of PMMC have been studied. The effect of particulate distribution and mechanical properties has also been evaluated in the
investment cast cylinder head component of SiC reinforced Al alloy
composite.
in the form of tree assembly integrated with pouring cup, central sprue and runner system. Then the trees of wax patterns were
cleaned and dipped into primary ceramic slurry followed by stuccoing with refractory sand and placed in an environment where
the ceramic layer will quickly dry up. After the primary coats had
been applied, the back-up coats were performed with slurry having larger grain size particles preferably to build the shell thickness
more rapidly as well as to maintain permeability. After drying of
each layer, the process was repeated with subsequent layers after
being sprinkling with stucco until the required ceramic shell thickness had been achieved. When the ceramic shelling is completed
the moulds were air dried for 24 h, depending on the total mould
mass and the water content of the particular slurry used. Then
the dried ceramic shell moulds were de-waxed in an autoclave
followed by burning at 900 C for 12 h in a resistance-heating furnace. After dewaxing the ceramic shell moulds were cooled to room
temperature for proper cleaning in side the shell and then again
placed the shells in the furnace to preheat at different temperature range and make ready for casting of MMC. The methodology
and the development process to manufacture the cylinder head
component through RP integrated investment casting is shown in
Figs. 1 and 2 respectively.
2. Experimental details
2.2. Materials
Rapid prototyping (RP) is gaining increased popularity nowadays. RP technology is utilized for making rapid tooling (RT) to
manufacture the wax patterns of investment casting. The wax patterns were made in an MCP vacuum casting machine by pouring
the molten wax in the silicon rubber mould and were then gated
4.16
156.80
64.22
60.31
17.36
0.01
0.81
0.35
0.26
0.04
4.16
156.75
64.19
60.32
17.35
0.05
0.11
0.08
0.08
0.06
Metal part
(g) (mm)
Metal part
(g) (mm)
Deviation
h = (g e) (mm)
Composite
A356
Deviation
(f) = (e c)
0.01
0.76
0.32
0.25
0.05
39
Deviation
h = (g e) (mm)
4.17
157.56
64.54
60.06
17.31
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.03
0.02
4.22
157.67
64.62
59.98
17.25
A (Fin)
B (Length)
C (Width)
D (Big hole)
E (Small hole)
4.2
157.65
64.60
59.95
17.27
Deviation (d) = (c b)
(mm)
RP model
(c) (mm)
CAD model
(b) (mm)
1
2
3
4
5
Different position
Sl. no.
Table 2
Dimensional variation from CAD to nal product of composite
40
Fig. 4. (a) Spiral uidity test specimens (A) RP model, (B) metallic part of Al alloy (A356) and (C) metallic part of SiC reinforced Al alloy (A356) and (b) shell mould.
Fig. 5. A356/SiC/15p composite in as cast state (a) low magnication, (b) high magnication and T6 condition, (c) low magnication and (d) high magnication.
41
Table 3
Mechanical properties of the test samples
Sl. no.
Properties
As cast A356
As cast composite
1
2
3
4
5
130
80
2.0
100
55
150
125
1.0
115
70
182
102
1.0
135
55
208
150
1.10
160
75
Fig. 6. Age hardening response curves for A356/SiC/15p composite and A356 alloy.