Author : Pradeep Kundu, Sandeep Kundu, Ashok Mishra

A composite material contains matrix phase (metal) and reinforcement phase (SiC); combined together and produce the material with better properties than conventional materials. The reinforcement is added in the bulk material to increase its strength and stiffness. To meet the objectives the composite material was fabricated by varying the SiC weight fraction (5%, 7%, and 9%), while other parameters keep constant. For all grades of material, an increasing trend in the shear and tensile strength was found with the increase in SiC weight %. During the test, the fracture mode was found to be ductile in nature. During tensile test, the elongation of the material was found to decrease from 7% to 9% SiC weight percentage increment. This may be because of non-uniform mixing of the SiC in the matrix phase or generation of pore or cracks with SiC increment which was earlier validated with the microstructure analysis.

Keywords: Aluminum alloys, silicon carbide, shear test, tensile test.

Article published in International Journal of Current  Engineering  and Technology, Vol.3,No.5(Dec- 2013)