Hardness and Wear Behavior of Heat Treated Aluminium Silicon Alloy SiC Particle Reinforced Composite

Abstract

The A356 Aluminium Silicon alloy is reinforced with Silica Carbide particles (SiCp) to form metal matrix composite by stir casting method to study the hardness and wear properties. The composites are prepared for weight fraction of 2, 4 and 6% of SiC with the base alloy and their characteristics are observed at post T6 full heat treated condition. The optical microscopic metallography observation shows the rosettes of uniform spheroidal grains of strain free eutectic silicon phase in proeutectic Aluminium matrix after heat treatment. The hardness and wear properties of the A356-SiC composites have increased with the increase in weight percentage of reinforcement particle in the base alloy. Maximum hardness and wear resistance is observed for 6% SiC which is the maximum percentage of inclusion of secondary element considered under this study. A comprehensive discussion is made on the strengthening of the A356 alloy on addition of hard SiC particles that has improved the hardness and wear characteristics of composites in heat treated conditions.