Experimental investigation and numerical modeling of mechanically alloyed Al-TiC composites

Abstract

The present work studies the mechanical alloying, consolidation, evaluation, modeling, and optimization of the Al-TiC composites mixed at different milling times (MTs) of 6, 12, 24, and 48 h and reinforced with three TiC concentrations (3, 6, and 12 vol.%). The Al-TiC composites formed via the powder metallurgy method. The XRD of the mixed powder and the consolidated composites were investigated. Furthermore, density, wear, compressive strength, and hardness have been examined for the consolidated composites. Also, the worn surface of the wear-tested composites was studied utilizing SEM analysis. The response surface methodology (RSM) was involved to clarify the effects of mechanical alloying parameters of MTs and the TiC concentrations and their interaction towards achieving their optimum process factors to produce Al-TiC composites. The RSM results prove the applied factors’ importance in improving the consolidated composites’ properties. The optimization results show the optimum parameters to produce Al-TiC composites are 28.4 MTs and 12 vol.% TiC to produce Al-TiC composites with 304.4 ± 3 MPa compressive strength, 191.21 ± 2 HV hardness, 2.88 ± 0.008 g/cm3 density, and 9.7 ± 0.01 mg weight loss. The ANOVA analysis reveals that the suggested models can virtually expect the tested responses of density, hardness, compressive strength, and weight loss with a confidence level of over 90, 98, 95, and 95%, respectively.