Evaluation of Mechanical, Wear and Fracture Behavior of Silicon Carbide Particulates Reinforced Al7075 Composites using Response Surface Methodology Technique

Abstract

High-strength composite materials have been created as a result of the rising need for materials to improve the performance of civil, aeronautical and marine components. Among these, Al Metal Matrix Composites are commonly used to meet engineering requirements. The present research works focuses on manufacturing and exploring Al7075 alloy micro-structure, mechanical and wear characteristics of Silicon Carbide (SiC) particulates with weight percentages of 3, 6 and 9 respectively. Al7075-SiC composites have been produced by using metallurgical route. The microstructural study revealed a uniform distribution of SiCp. The existence of SiC has been affirmed by Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis performed on the developed composite (Al7075-9 wt. % SiCp). To study the loss of wear, experiments were performed on a tribometer attached to a hard steel disk. The wear parameters were optimized using the central composite design in response to the surface technique. The obtained results indicated that the mechanical properties of composites improved when SiCp was added. The developed model effectively predicted the wear rate with 95% reliability and results of all models were confirmed by ANOVA (Analysis of Variance).

Keywords

• al7075
• silicon carbide
• mechanical properties
• tribological behavior
• fracture surface
• taguchi technique