Author : Srinivasan Ekambaram and N. Murugan

The experimental investigation on the effect of alumina reinforcement on mechanical properties of aluminium alloy Al 6061 composites samples, processed by stir casting method is reported in this paper. Three sets of composites were prepared with varying percentage of alumina (4%, 6%, and 8%) by weight fraction. The evaluated properties of the samples were tensile strength, hardness, corrosion, wear resistance and their microstructure were also observed. In the presence of alumina with aluminium, it was observed that the hardness, tensile strength, corrosion and wear resistance were increased but ductility of the hybrid metal matrix composites in comparison with unreinforced aluminium has decreased. From the experiment it was observed that the best properties were obtained from the sample containing 8% alumina as compared to the base metal. The microstructural characterization of the samples was carried out using Scanning electron microscopy.

Keywords: Aluminum 6061, Hybrid MMC’s, Alumina, Stir casting, characterization of MMC

Article published in International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.5, No.5 (Oct-2015)