Experimental investigations on properties of boron carbide reinforced AA8079 matrix composites prepared by powder metallurgy technique

Abstract

Nowadays Aluminium metal matrix composites finds wide ranging applications in the field of aerospace automobile and military owing to its unique properties such as high strength high hardness low wear resistance and low density Many of the research work has been carried out to synthesis metal matrix composites founded on the traditional particulate reinforcement such as Al2O3 TiO2 SiC TiC and Gr particles Limited research work has been carried out by using Boron Carbide B4C as reinforcement synthesized via Powder Metallurgy P M technique. There has been increased demand for composites containing high strength hardness and low density B4C possess extreme hardness and low density The present research work objective is to develop new class of material with desirable properties of AA8079 Al Fe Cu Si Zn was synthesized by mixing pure Al powder with other elemental powders such as 0 05 Cu 1 3 Fe 0 3 Si 0 15 Zn The particle size of elemental powders used was Al 100 and#956;m Cu 10 and#956;m, Fe 10 and#956;m, Si 8 and#956;m and Zn 10 and#956;m. B4C with an average particle size of 100 and#956;m has been used. The compositions of the composites are AA8079 AA8079 5wt B4C AA8079 10wt B4C AA8079 15wt B4C The composites were synthesized by mechanical alloying method and powder metallurgy technique The milled powder was characterized by X ray diffraction XRD and Scanning Electron Microscopy SEM analysis newline