International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

Microstructural Studies of Aluminium 7075Silicon Carbide- Alumina Metal Matrix

Composite
B.Rajeswari

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering,

Government College of Technology,
Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India.
rajes.aravind@gmail.com

K.S.Amirthagadeswaran

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering,

Government College of Technology,
Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India.

Abstract - The modern development in the field of science and

technology there is a demand for many advanced engineering
materials. In recent days, aluminium related metal matrix
composite is a hopeful material for many applications such as
transport, aerospace, marine and automobile applications.
Experiments have been conducted by various weight fractions of
SiC and Al2O3 particulates. In this paper, we adopted stir casting
method for composite fabrication. Characterization studies were
conducted on the Al (7075) alloy and composite samples to assess
the hardness and microstructural properties. Final samples were
tested by hardness using Vickers hardness machine,
microstructure examination was conducted by optical
microscope. Microstructure of the composite samples reveals the
presence and homogeneous distribution of reinforcements in the
Al (7075) matrix. The hardness of aluminium metal matrix
composites was increased due to the addition of silicon carbide
and alumina reinforcements.

Keywords - Stir Casting, Hardness test, Microstructure

examination, XRD analysis.
I.

INTRODUCTION

Composite material is created artificially or synthetically

by combining two or more materials that have quite different
properties. One constituent is called matrix phase and another
one is called as reinforcing phase. Reinforcing phase to give
the required characteristics. The different materials work
together to give the composite unique properties, but within
the composite can easily tell the different materials apart they
do not dissolve or blend into each other. Matrix is continuous
phase and reinforcement is non-continuous phase which
normally harder and stronger [1], [18].
Metal matrix composites are prepared by dispersing a
reinforcement material into a matrix phase. In metal matrix
composites the ductile metal is used as a matrix material.
Recently metal matrix composites are used in high
performance application because they have significantly
increased in the recent times. Among many metal matrix
composites, aluminium alloy matrix composites attract much
attention due to their lightness, high conductivity moderate
casting temperature. Aluminium matrix composites, a growing
number of applications require the matrix properties of super
alloys, magnesium or iron. Like all composites, aluminiummatrix composites are not a single materials whose stiffness,

K.Ramya

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering,

Government College of Technology,
Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India.
ramsmatsci28@gmail.com

density, thermal and electrical properties can be tailored to the

suitable requirement [1]-[17].The properties of the composite
are depend on the properties of reinforcements, size, and its
weight fractions. Various kind of ceramic materials, e.g. SiC,
Al2O3, MgO and B4C are extensively used to reinforce
aluminium alloy matrices. Superior properties of these
materials such as refractoriness, high hardness, high tensile
strength, wear resistance etc. make them suitable for use as
reinforcement in MMCs [2], [3]. By controlling the fractions
and distribution of reinforcements the properties of the matrix
is improved.
In this paper, aluminium alloy 7075 is used as a
matrix phase where zinc as the primary alloying element. It is
strong, with strength comparable to many steels, and has good
fatigue strength and good machinability, but has less
resistance to corrosion than many other Al alloys. Its
relatively high cost limits its use to applications where
cheaper alloys are not suitable. 7075 aluminium alloy's
composition roughly includes
5.66.1% zinc,
2.1
2.5% magnesium, 1.21.6% copper, and less than half a
percent of silicon, iron, manganese, titanium, chromium, and
other metals [4]. Aluminium 7075 has a density of 2.810 g/cm
[5]. One interesting use for 7075 is in the manufacture of M16
rifles for the American military.The reinforcement chosen is
silicon carbide and alumina. The addition of high strength,
high modulus refractory particles to a ductile metal matrix
produce a material whose mechanical properties are
intermediate between the matrix alloy and the ceramic
reinforcement. Metals have a useful combination of properties
such as high strength, ductility and high temperature
resistance, but sometimes have low stiffness, whereas
ceramics are stiff and strong, though brittle [6]. Stir casting
technique is one of the popular Liquid Metallurgy Route
(LMR) and is also a promising route for manufacturing near
net shape hybrid metal matrix composite components at a
normal cost [1]-[17].
In stir casting the discontinuous reinforcement is stirred
into molten metal, which is allowed to solidify. Stir Casting is
a liquid state method of composite materials fabrication, in
which a dispersed phase (ceramic particles, short fibers) is
mixed with a molten matrix metal by means of
mechanical stirring. Stir Casting is the simplest and the most
cost effective method of liquid state fabrication. The liquid

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

composite material is then cast by conventional casting

method and may also be processed by conventional metal
forming techniques. There are two major problem in stir
casting technology firstly sufficient wetting of particle by the
liquid metals is not achieved and secondly reinforcements gets
floated over the surface of the liquid metal. Due to poor
wettability good bonding between the liquid metal and the
ceramic reinforcements it results high porosity and low
mechanical properties of the composites [7], [8]. Small
amount of magnesium was added to improve the wettability
between liquid matrix and ceramic reinforcements [9].
Microstructure plays an important role in composite material.
The physical properties of the composite are based on its
microstructure, size and shape of the reinforcement used. The
distribution of reinforcements is analyzed with the help of
optical microscopy [10].
II.

into the preheated (300C) permanent steel mould and allowed

to cool in atmospheric air. Specimens of 50 mm length, 10
mm width and 10 mm height were cut from the central portion
of the casting as shown in Figure 3 for micro structural studies
conducted using optical microscopy. The hardness of the
samples was measured by Vickers hardness testing machine.

METHODOLOGY

The matrix material used for the present study is 7075 Alalloy. The chemical composition of aluminium 7075 is shown
in Table 1.
Fig.1 Methodology
Table.1 Chemical Composition of aluminium 7075
Si

Fe

Cu

Mn

Mg

Cr

Zn

Ti

Al

0.4

0.5

1.6

0.3

2.5

0.15

5.5

0.2

remains

The reinforcement chosen are silicon carbide and

alumina. Three composites are fabricated. The composite
compositions are shown below.
Al 7075 (90%) + SiC (7.5%) + Al2O3 (2.5%)
Al 7075 (90%) + SiC (2.5%) + Al2O3 (7.5%)
Al 7075 (90%) + SiC (5%) + Al2O3 (5%)

Fig.2 Stir Casting Apparatus

The methods involved in Figure 1 are followed after stir

casting. In stir casting the discontinuous reinforcement is
stirred into molten metal, which is allowed to solidify. In this
process a dispersed phase (ceramic particles, short fibers) is
mixed with a molten matrix metal by means of
mechanical stirring. Stir Casting is the simplest and the most
cost effective method of liquid state fabrication. In the present
work, stir casting technique was used to fabricate aluminium
alloy with various weight percentages of SiC and alumina
reinforcements. SiC and alumina particles of 400 meshes were
used. The matrix material Aluminium 7075 was heated to
7500 C in an electric arc furnace of stir casting apparatus.
Weighed quantity of silicon carbide along with weight
percentage of alumina particulate is preheated to 900 C is
added to the melt (Figure 2) with constant stirring for about
20 min [11]. The stirring of 450 rpm was determined and
selected for this work [12], [13]. After complete addition of
the particles to the melt, the composite alloy was tilt poured

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A - 90% Al + 5% SiC + 5% Al2O3

B - 90% Al + 7.5% SiC + 2.5% Al2O3
C - 90% A l + 2.5% SiC+7.5% Al2O3
Fig. 3 Machined Composite

International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

The Micro-Vickers hardness values of the composites before

and after addition of Al2O3 and silicon carbide particles were
measured with a load of 500gf with the help of micro hardness
tester. The hardness value reported is the average value of
readings taken at various locations on the polished specimen.
Similarly microstructure analysis was carried out before and
after addition of Al2O3 and silicon carbide particles.
Hardness Test
Hardness, which is described as a measure of a materials
resistance to surface indentation, may be thought of as a
function of the stress required to produce some specific types
of surface deformation. A Vickers hardness tester machine is
used for the hardness measurement.

The test was carried out at three different locations and the
average value was taken as the hardness of the pure
aluminium and composite specimens. The result of Vickers
hardness test for simple alloy without reinforcement and wt.
% variation of different reinforcement such as SiC/Al2O3 are
shown in Table 2. It is an evident that the hardness of the
composite material is much higher than that of its parent
metal. . This may be because of addition of SiC and Al2O3
particulates make the ductile aluminium alloy into more brittle
in nature with increase of reinforcements. And also the
dispersion of particulates enhances the hardness, as particles
are harder than Al7075 alloy. The above Figure 4 shows that
Aluminium alloy having 7.5 % SiC and 2.5 % Al2O3 has
higher amount of hardness.
Structure of Al- SiCp-Al2O3p Composites

Table 2. Result of Hardness Test

MEAN
HARDNESS
(HV)

SPECIMEN

TRIAL 1

TRIAL 2

TRIAL 3

PURE AL
7075 ALLOY

141.2

142.8

141.7

141.9

146.6

143.2

145.4

145.06

147.8

146.4

144.6

146.26

143.8

145.2

141.8

143.6

Hardness test were performed on pure aluminium alloy and

composites to know the effect of silicon carbide and alumina
particles in matrix material. The surface being tested
generally requires a metallographic finish and it was done
with the help of 100, 220, 400, 600, 1000 grit size emery
paper. Then the polished specimens were tested using
Vickers hardness tester. A load of 500gf for a period of 10
seconds was applied on specimens. The hardness was
determined by recording the diagonal lengths of indentations
produced.

The optical micrographs of pure aluminium and aluminium

composites reinforced with SiCp-Al2O3p are shown in Figures
5,6,7,8. SiC and alumina particles are added into the molten
alloy they are observed to be floating on the surface, though
they have large specific density than the molten metal. This
was due to high surface tension and poor wetting between the
particles and the melt.
Normally the wettability between most ceramic
particles and liquid matrix metals has been poor. To improve
wettabity a mechanical force can be applied to overcome
surface tension. Equiaxed form was obtained from dendrite
like structure due to stirring of the melt before and after
introducing particles, it improves the wettability and
incorporation of particles within the melt.
Pure Aluminium Alloy

Fig.5 Microscopic view of pure aluminium (7075) alloy

5%SiC and Al2O3 with Aluminium Alloy

Fig.4 Comparison of Hardness

Fig.6 Microscopic view of 5 % SiC and Al2O3 reinforced Aluminium

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

7.5%SiC and 2.5% Al2O3 with Aluminium

Alloy

9, 10 numbers. In XRD, the physical content of the

constituents present in the samples are indicated in the form of
a graphs. With the help of PowderX software the XRD graphs
are compared with various JCPDS cards. Figure 10 is proved
that the presence of reinforcements in matrix alloy. It reveals
the composite having cubic structure. The four strong peaks in
all patterns are identified whose 2 values are around 38.95,
45.306, 60.02and 78.306 respectively due to the (222),
(400), (440), and (622) planes.

Fig.7 Microscopic view of 7.5 % SiC and 2.5 % Al2O3

reinforced Aluminium

2.5%SiC and 7.5% Al2O3 with Aluminium Alloy

Fig .10 X-ray diffraction pattern of the alloy with 7.5 % SiC & 2.5%
Al2O3

The recorded intensity for pure aluminium alloy was

fairly uniform, so the crystallities in the sample have random
orientation. The crystallinity parts give sharp narrow
diffraction peaks. However, too much crystallinity causes
brittleness. In the Figure10 the sharp peaks are obtained in
(222), (400) planes. XRD results showed that particles
dispersed uniformly throughout in the matrix thus
strengthening the composite.

Fig. 8 Microscopic view of 2.5 % SiC and 7.5 % Al2O3

reinforced Aluminium

It causes particles are dispersed more uniformly in the

matrix. From Figures 6, 7, 8 it can be observed that,
distributions of reinforcements in the respective matrix
are fairly uniform and also there is no large pore and
particle clustering was attributed in these micrographs.
Good interfacial boding is obtained between the matrix
and reinforcements because of the addition magnesium in
small quantities during stirring which improves the
wettability. Further these figures revealed the
homogeneity of the composites.
XRD ANALYSIS

Fig .9 X-ray diffraction pattern of pure aluminium alloy

The X- ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of aluminium alloy

matrix composites and aluminium alloy were shown in figure

III.

CONCLUSION

Based on the study conducted on the silicon carbide and

alumina containing Al7075 composite material, the following
conclusions was made:
a Aluminium
matrix
composites
have
been
successfully fabricated by stir casting techniques
with fairly uniform distribution of SiC and Al2O3
particles.
b The results confirmed that stir formed Aluminium
(7075) alloy with SiC / Al2O3 reinforced composites
is clearly superior to base of Al alloy in the
comparison of hardness. Dispersion of SiC / Al2O3
particles in aluminium
matrix improves the
microhardness of the matrix material.
c The hardness increases after addition of SiC and
Al2O3 particles in the matrix. Among the three
samples 7.5% SiC and 2.5% Al2O3 reinforced
composite has maximum hardness.
d XRD results showed that particles dispersed
uniformly throughout in the matrix and composite

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International Conference on Recent Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Interdisciplinary Developments [ICRAMID - 2014]

material having cubic structure strengthens the

composite.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the Coimbatore
Institute of Technology, Coimbatore and PSG
Technology, Coimbatore for providing lab facilities
for composite fabrication and testing.
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