• PDF / 741,265 Bytes
• 9 Pages / 584.957 x 782.986 pts Page_size
• 13 Downloads / 230 Views

DOWNLOAD

REPORT

---

Palanisamy Senthilkumar Department of Mechanical Engineering, K.S.R College of Engineering, Tiruchengode-637 215, Tamil Nadu, India

Manickam Ravichandran Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chendhuran College of Engineering and Technology, Pudukkottai-622 507, Tamil Nadu, India

Veeramani Anandakrishnan Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli-620 015, Tamil Nadu, India (Received 6 July 2016; accepted 7 December 2016)

This study investigates the synthesis, characterization, and corrosion behavior of AA6063 composites with the inclusion of micron-sized titanium carbide (TiC) particles with different weight percentages. AA6063/TiC particulate composites containing 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 weight percent of TiC particles were produced by stir casting. The homogeneous dispersion of TiC particles in the AA6063/TiC composites was revealed from the scanning electron microscopy analysis. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis was conducted to ensure the presence of reinforcement particles in the matrix. Mechanical and corrosion properties of the produced composites are evaluated. The addition of TiC particles to the AA6063, the mechanical, electrical, and corrosion properties are initially increased and then decreased. Mechanical and corrosion study shows that the presence of 9 wt% of TiC particles in the matrix improved mechanical properties than other combination of TiC with the matrix material.

I. INTRODUCTION

Recently metal matrix composites (MMCs) are under serious consideration to replace conventional materials for a large number of structural applications such as aeronautical/aerospace, transportation, defense, and sports industries.1 Aluminum matrix composites (AMCs) reinforced with particles and whiskers are extensively used for lofty concert applications such as in automotive, military, aerospace, and electricity industries because of their improved physical and mechanical properties.2 The properties of composites are desired by the size, shape, and volume fraction of the reinforcement, matrix material and reaction at the interface.3 The interface between the reinforcement and matrix plays a vital role in determining the properties of AMCs. AMCs can be reinforced with alumina (Al2O3),4 aluminum nitride (AlN),5 boron nitride (BN), boron carbide (B4C),6 magnesium oxide (MgO),7 silicon carbide (SiC),8 silicon nitride (Si3N4),9 titanium boride (TiB2),10 titanium carbide (TiC),11 and titanium Contributing Editor: Jürgen Eckert a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected] DOI: 10.1557/jmr.2016.503

dioxide (TiO2).12,13 While SiC and Al2O3 are common reinforcing materials in AMCs, the limited research has been conducted on TiC reinforced AMCs due to the higher cost of TiC powders.14 TiC was used as reinforcement to prepare AMCs because of its high hardness and elastic modulus, low density, good wettability with molten aluminum and its low chemical reactivity and higher hardness (32 GPa).15 The stir casting process has some important adva