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Journal of Asian Ceramic Societies 3 (2015) 240244

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Journal of Asian Ceramic Societies


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jascer

A study on microstructure of aluminium matrix composites


Pardeep Sharma a, , Satpal Sharma b , Dinesh Khanduja a
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, N.I.T. Kurukshetra, Haryana, India
b
School of Engineering, Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This work focuses on the effect of graphite particles addition on the microstructure of Al6082 metal
Received 15 February 2015 matrix composites manufactured by conventional stir casting process. The reinforcement content was
Received in revised form 16 April 2015 varied from 0% to 12% in a step of 3%. The microstructures of the manufactured composites were analyzed
Accepted 26 April 2015
by scanning electron micrographic test. Elemental mapping of the Al6082 + 12% Gr reinforced composite
Available online 14 May 2015
was carried out to see the different elements present with their amount. Different elements present
in the manufactured composites were veried by X-ray diffraction technique to justify the elemental
Keywords:
map analysis. The result of this microstructural investigation revealed that a non-uniform distribution of
Aluminium matrix composites
Graphite
graphite particles takes place at all weight percentages of graphite reinforcement.
Microstructure 2015 The Ceramic Society of Japan and the Korean Ceramic Society. Production and hosting by
Scanning electron microscope Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction and reduced ploughing effects of Al chips which in turn reduced


the wear and friction of the composite material resulting into easy
Aluminium (Al) is used as a key metal matrix constituent in the machining of these composite materials manufactured by various
production of composite materials. There is an increased petition techniques [1013]. The wear resistance of a single reinforced com-
for a low cost, lightweight material with excellent mechanical and posite increased when Gr is used as a second reinforcement because
tribological properties in the aerospace and automobile industries. Gr having self-lubricating properties enhanced the wear resistance
Composite materials of Al showed application in these industries of single reinforced composites by forming a thin lubricating lm
[1,2]. Most of the researchers tried to reinforce aluminium metals of Gr particles in case of hybrid composites irrespective of the
and their alloys with ceramic particles to improve their properties manufacturing process employed for the manufacturing of hybrid
[3]. These composite materials presented great applications in the composites [1419].
area of commercial as well as industrial components [4]. Compos- It is revealed from studied literature that the main emphasis
ite materials when compared to unreinforced alloy showed better has been given on the wear and mechanical properties, especially
mechanical and tribological properties; moreover, these improved hardness of AMCs reinforced with Gr particulates and a limited
properties can be modied for a particular requirement [5]. The research work has been reported on microstructural characteriza-
hardness of the aluminium matrix composites (AMCs) reinforced tion of AMCs containing wide range of reinforcements i.e. Gr. Up
with Gr particles decreased with a linear increase in the graphite to date no researchers used AA6082 in manufacturing of Gr rein-
(Gr) content irrespective of the manufacturing process employed to forced composites by stir casting process. In view of these facts the
manufacture the composite materials [69]. The wear resistance of author studied the effect of Gr reinforcement on the microstructure
the AMCs reinforced with Gr particles increased as compared to that of AA6082 metal matrix composites.
of pure aluminium matrix due to formation of a thin lubricating lm Stir casting is one of the low cost process out of available man-
by Gr particles which prevented direct contact of sliding surfaces ufacturing techniques for AMCs, with advantage of low cost; it also
offers a wide range of material and processing conditions and can
manufacture composites with up to 30% volume fraction of rein-
forcement with better bonding of metal matrix with reinforcement
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9996113015; fax: +91 1744 246254.
particles because of stirring action [2026]. Due to all these advan-
E-mail address: pardeep84sharma@gmail.com (P. Sharma).
Peer review under responsibility of The Ceramic Society of Japan and the Korean tages stir casting process is employed in the present research for
Ceramic Society. the manufacturing of composites.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jascer.2015.04.001
2187-0764 2015 The Ceramic Society of Japan and the Korean Ceramic Society. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
P. Sharma et al. / Journal of Asian Ceramic Societies 3 (2015) 240244 241

Table 1 Table 3
Process parameters of stir casting. Properties of Gr.

S.N. Process parameters Value Reinforcement Hardness Average particle Density


particles (VHN) size (m) (g/cm3 )
1 Stirring temperature 900 C
2 Stirring speed 200 rpm Gr 25.49 50 2.2
3 Stirring time 10 min
4 Preheat temperature of reinforcement particles 500 C
5 Preheat temperature of permanent mould 250 C
3. Results and discussion

Fig. 1(a) shows the SEM image of Gr particles. Fig. 1(b) shows
2. Research methodology the microstructure of cast Al6082, and the microstructure con-
tains solid solution of aluminium and inter-dendritic network
The Al6082/Gr composites were fabricated by stir casting pro- of aluminium silicon eutectic. The microstructure of cast Al6082
cess. Table 1 shows the process parameters employed in the present (Fig. 1(b)) reveals the formation of -aluminium dendritic network
research. The composition of Al6082 after Spectro-Lab test is given structure which is formed due to super-cooling of casting dur-
in Table 2. Table 3 provides the properties of Gr reinforcement ing solidication, with less impurities present. The SEM image of
particulates. Homogeneous distribution of reinforcement particles manufactured composites is shown in Fig. 2(a)(d). The microstruc-
in the melt is attained with the help of proper stirring. The alu- ture of all composites reveals that there are large impurities with
minium melt was stirred by a mechanical stirrer to form a ne a non-uniform distribution of Gr particles along with clustering
vortex [27,28]. The reinforcement particles were preheated to oxi- of Gr particles at some locations. The low density of Gr particles
dize their surface before pouring into the melt. After stirring the as compared to that of Al6082 causes the Gr particles to oat in
molten mixture of aluminium melt and Gr reinforcement it was the aluminium melt resulting in non-uniform distribution. The
poured in to a permanent mould. Argon gas was supplied during microstructures of all composites contain solid solution of alu-
the whole operation to prevent the oxidations of manufactured minium and inter-dendritic network of aluminium silicon eutectic.
composites. The manufactured composite was solidied in atmo- When the composites are solidifying, the Gr particles are prohib-
spheric air. The AMCs having different volume fraction (3%, 6%, ited in the direction of rened -Al grains. Because of this, the
9% and 12 wt.%) of Gr particles were manufactured by the same further renement of -Al grains takes place and Gr particles act
process. The specimens prepared from the casting for microstruc- as nucleus on which the -Al grains solidify and Gr particles offer
ture test were polished with abrasive papers of grades 200, 400, confrontation against growing -Al phase during the solidication
600, 800 and 1000 grades respectively and etched by using Kellers process.
etchant. A scanning electron micrographic (SEM) study was carried Fig. 3 shows the elemental maps of aluminium matrix reinforced
out on the cast and fabricated composites with elemental mapping. with 12 wt.% of Gr particles. From the elemental maps of the com-
XRD analysis of the manufactured composites was done to verify posite it is evident that the main elements present in the composite
the different elements present in the manufactured composites. are Al (largest amount) and C (second largest amount) whereas Si,
The Vickers hardness of the composites was measured on Vickers Mg and Mn which are constituents of base metal Al6082 are also
hardness tester at a load of 500 g applied for a duration of 15 s. present in small amount. Table 4 shows the elements present in

Table 2
Chemical composition of base metal Al6082.

Constituent Al Cu Mg Si Fe Ni Mn Zn

Content % 97.14 0.038 0.690 1.16 0.258 0.04 0.580 0.027

Fig. 1. (a) SEM image of pure Gr reinforcement. (b) SEM image of cast metal 6082.
242 P. Sharma et al. / Journal of Asian Ceramic Societies 3 (2015) 240244

Fig. 2. SEM image of AlGr composites: (a) 3% Gr, (b) 6% Gr, (c) 9% Gr and (d) 12% Gr.

the Al6082 + 12% Gr reinforced composites with their weight per- peaks are identied by using JCPDS software. The peaks of Gr (in
centage and atomic percentage in composite. Table 4 also shows the form of C) are clearly visible in all manufactured composites.
the presence of basic elements of Al6082 + 12% Gr reinforced com- The peaks of C are increasing with the increasing content of Gr in
posite in the compound form. The elemental maps conrm that the the manufactured composites. The peaks of Al in the manufactured
manufactured composite is reinforced with Gr particles. composites are slightly shifted to 2 theta angles with the increas-
Fig. 4 shows the XRD results of manufactured composites. XRD ing content of Gr when compared to that of cast AA6082. The XRD
gives the details about the elements present in the manufactured results also conrm the elemental map results which proves that
composites. The results of XRD reveal that the main elements manufactured composites are Gr reinforced composites.
present are Al (largest peak), C (second largest peak) and Si (lower The hardness of the composites decreased as the volume frac-
peak). The Al is present in the form of phase i.e. Al (1 1 1), Al (2 0 0), tion of Gr particles increased in the composite (Table 5). This
Al (2 2 0), Al (3 1 1), Al (2 2 2) and C in the form C (0 0 5), C (1 0 1) may be due to low hardness of Gr of 25.49 VHN as compared to
and C (1 1 0) whereas Si is present in the form of Si (0 0 1). These 49.5 VHN of aluminium (Gr has 12 on Mohs hardness scale as

Table 4
Elements present in Al6082 + 12% Gr reinforced composites.

Cast Al6082 + 12% Gr reinforced composite

Element Weight % Atomic % Compound (form)

Al 84.76 72.48 AL2 O3


Si 0.59 0.49 SiO2
Mg 0.41 0.39 MgO
Mn 0.47 0.20 Mn
C 13.77 26.45 CaCo3
P. Sharma et al. / Journal of Asian Ceramic Societies 3 (2015) 240244 243

Fig. 3. Elemental maps of Al6082 + 12% Gr reinforced composites.

compared to Al 2.53 on Mohs scale). This decrease in hardness investigations [69]. This decrease of hardness with increased con-
is also due to increased brittle nature of Gr reinforcement particles tent of Gr can be related to the microstructures (SEM images) of
which causes the composites to deform plastically more easily with composites also. As the amount of Gr reinforcement increased, the
increased content of Gr. These results are in line with the previous hardness decreased because at high percentage of Gr, the reinforce-
ment particles which are soft, oats in large amount and resulted
0% into large impurities on the surface of the aluminium melt due to
Al (111)

3% Gr
which the impurity content increased which results into lowering
6% Gr
Al (200)

9% Gr of hardness and in microstructure there has been observed a very


C(110)
C(101)
C(005)

12% Gr little area where Gr particles are present at higher weight percent-
Al (311)
Al (220)
Si (001)

Al (222)

age of Gr i.e. 9% and 12% (Fig. 2(c) and (d)). At lower percentage of
Intensity (a.u)

Gr however up to a certain amount, some distribution of Gr par-


ticles takes place and also cluster of particles observed but as the

Table 5
Hardness of manufactured composites.

S.N. Composites VHN

1 Cast Al + 0% Gr 49.5
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 2 Cast Al + 3% Gr 48
3 Cast Al + 6% Gr 46.5
2
4 Cast Al + 9% Gr 45.2
5 Cast Al + 12% Gr 44
Fig. 4. XRD pattern of composites.
244 P. Sharma et al. / Journal of Asian Ceramic Societies 3 (2015) 240244

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