j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 8 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 241247

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmatprotec

Inuence of precipitation hardening parameters on the fatigue strength of AA 6061-SiCp composite

K. Mahadevan a, , K. Raghukandan b , B.C. Pai c , U.T.S. Pillai c
a b c

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pondicherry Engineering College, Pondicherry 605014, India Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar 608002, India Metals Processing Division, Regional Research Laboratory, Thiruvanathapuram 695019, India

a r t i c l e
Article history:

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Aluminium matrix-based discontinuously reinforced composites are age hardenable and can be strengthened through precipitation hardening process. Tests, based on the design of experiments (DOE) technique, were conducted to systematically record the inuence of precipitation hardening parameters on the fatigue strength of AA 6061-SiCp composite. A correlation model is formulated from the results of the tests. For a given solutionizing temperature of 530 C it is observed that solutionizing time (St ) as an individual parameter has

Received 2 June 2006 Received in revised form 6 June 2007 Accepted 27 June 2007

Keywords: Metal matrix composite Fatigue strength DOE Correlation coefcient ANOVA

the maximum inuence on fatigue strength of AA 6061-SiCp composite, followed by the rst order interaction effect between solutionizing time (St ) and aging temperature (AT ). 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1.

Introduction

Most of todays metal matrix composites (MMCs), both in research and development, as well as in various industrial applications, are based on aluminium and its alloys (Clyne and Withers, 2002; Sharma, 2000). Aluminium is lightweight, which is the foremost requirement in most of the applications of MMCs (Lindroos and Tlvitie, 1995; Ray, 1990). Recently there has been an increased interest to use aluminium matrix-based discontinuously reinforced composites (DRCs) for primary structural applications (Kimpson and Swoff, 1989). Moreover, aluminium matrix-based DRCs can be manufactured through conventional routes, which considerably reduces the manufacturing cost and provides a good balance between price and mechanical properties (Hashim et al., 1999). Out of the various conventional processing routes available for the manufacture of DRCs, stir casting technique is a promising route for

the mass production of aluminium matrix-based DRCs with reproducible properties (Pai et al., 2001). However, the as cast aluminium matrix DRCs has very limited usage due to inherent limitations of the casting process, and therefore is usually subjected to thermo-mechanical treatments (secondary working and heat treatment) (McNelley and Kalu, 1991; Srinivasan and Surappa, 1992; Gupta, 1995) to obtain the desired properties to suit industrial needs. Heat treatment of aluminium alloys are effected by means of precipitation hardening comprising the following steps: solutionizing, quenching and aging at room temperature (natural aging) or at elevated temperature (articial aging) (Mahadevan et al., 2005). Nevertheless, during precipitation hardening of aluminium matrix-based DRCs, in the solutionizing stage, the matrix alloy is modied quite signicantly (Das et al., 1996; Dutta et al., 1991) due to the occurrence of dislocations (Handianfard and Yiu-Wing-Mai, 1993). There-

Corresponding author. Fax: +91 413 2655101. E-mail address: kayyem@yahoo.com (K. Mahadevan). 0924-0136/$ see front matter 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.06.075

242

j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 8 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 241247

fore, the standard precipitation hardening schedule applicable for unreinforced aluminium alloys cannot be applied for aluminium matrix-based DRCs (Salvo and Suery, 1994; Chawla, 2001). Further, the successful usage of the above class of DRCs for various end applications depends on its ability to endure fatigue loads, which is governed by the microstructure of the matrix alloy after precipitation hardening process (Hochreiter et al., 1993). Study by Lu et al. (1999) concluded that the failure mechanism upon dynamic deformation of Al-MMCs was mainly due to nucleation, growth and coalescence of micro voids in the aluminium matrix. Similarly the deformation and failure mechanisms under cyclic deformation in an 8090 AlLi alloy reinforced with 15% SiC particles were studied and compared to those of the unreinforced alloy by Poza and Llorca (1999) wherein peak aged materials exhibited better resistance to fatigue damage. Chawla et al. (2000) studied the effect of matrix microstructure on the stress controlled fatigue behaviour of 2080 aluminium alloy reinforced with 30% SiC particles. The cyclic and monotonic strength, as well as the cyclic stressstrain response were found to be signicantly affected by the microstructure of the matrix, which was varied by precipitation hardening process (T6 and T8 conditions). Thus from the above works it is clear that the fatigue behaviour of aluminium matrix-based DRCs are greatly inuenced by the microstructure of the matrix alloy which is altered during precipitation hardening process. In this context, in the present investigation an attempt has been made to systematically study the inuence of precipitation hardening parameters on the fatigue strength of AA 6061-SiCp composite.

2.

Experimental procedure

The AA 6061-SiCp composite used in this study was produced by stir casting technique, details given elsewhere (Pai et al., 2001). The cast billets (dia 75 mm) were then hot extruded (420 C) to rods (dia 17 mm) using conical shaped dies. The microstructures of AA 6061-SiCp extruded composites are shown in Fig. 1(a) and (b). Uniform distribution of the reinforcing SiC particles in the matrix with minimum agglomerations is observed. The agglomerates in the transverse micrograph are of varying sizes and irregular. The absence of blow holes, macro pores and gravity settling of SiC in aluminium matrix indicates the suitability of the production process adopted. The distributions of the SiC particulates are fairly uniform though few clusters are seen in the transverse morphology. The specication and the static mechanical properties of the AA 6061-SiCp composite in the as extruded condition are given in Table 1. The fatigue specimens machined from the extruded AA 6061-SiCp composite were subjected to precipitation hardening. The sequence of operations involved were solutionizing, hot bath quenching, aging and air-cooling. Solutionizing was carried out at a temperature of 530 C over a range of time period and then quenched in a hot bath (6070 C) to avoid warping of specimens. Immediately, articially aging was done in a mufe furnace over a range

Fig. 1 Typical microstructure of AA 6061-SiCp extruded composite. (a) Transverse direction and (b) longitudinal direction.

of temperature and time. Temperatures in both solutionizing and aging were accurate to within 2 C and quench delays in all cases were within 10 s. The process variables considered for the investigation include solutionizing time (St ), aging temperature (AT ), and aging time (At ) at two levels (Mahadevan et al., 2006) as given in Table 2. Due to the narrow range of the process parameters chosen, it was decided to use a two level full factorial design. The eight sets of coded conditions of experiments based on 23 factorial design matrix (Miller and Freund, 2001) are given in Table 3.

Table 1 Specication and mechanical properties of extruded AA 6061-SiCp composite

% Vol. fraction of reinforcement Average reinforcement particle size ( m) Ultimate tensile stress (MPa) % Elongation Hardness [BHN] 15 23 240 4 67

j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 8 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 241247

243

Table 2 Process parameters and their levels Process parameter Unit Notation Levels Low (1)
Solutionizing time Aging temperature Aging time

High (+1)
5 220 12

h C h

St AT At

1 130 2

3.

Conduct of experiments

Smooth specimens of appropriate dimensions as per ISO: 11431975 were prepared from the extruded AA 6061-SiCp composite for fatigue testing. The hour-glass specimens had gauge section of length 50 mm and 8 mm diameter at the centre. The specimens were subjected to solutionizing, hot bath quenching and articial aging sequence as per the experimental design matrix (Table 3) recommendations. The treated specimens were then randomly tested for fatigue strength to avoid any possible bias. Fatigue testing was carried out on a

rotating bending fatigue-testing machine (ETS INTRALAKENIndia) with maximum bending moment of 20 Nm at 2800 rpm in the laboratory environment. Since the number of replicates chosen for analysis is two, another batch of similar specimens were prepared and tested separately. Hence, totally 16 tests were conducted in two batches, each comprising of eight tests as per DOE recommendations. For performing high cycle fatigue test, a suitable stress range (150 MPa) was chosen so that the specimens will survive at least 5 104 cycles before failure. The test results were recorded against the standard order of sequence as shown in Table 4.

4.
4.1.

Results and discussion

Mathematical modelling

Yates algorithm was used to nd the sum of squares for main and interaction effects. Signicant factors and their interaction on the process were determined from the analysis of

Table 3 Factorial experimental design matrix for 3 factors at 2 levels (23 ) Standard order
1 A B AB C AC BC ABC

Solutionizing time
1 +1 1 +1 1 +1 1 +1

Aging temperature
1 1 +1 +1 1 1 +1 +1

Aging time
1 1 1 1 +1 +1 +1 +1

Table 4 Standard order of test sequence and results Specimen number

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Standard order
1 A B AB C AC BC ABC

Replicate 1 fatigue strength [105 cycles]

4.467 2.429 0.830 15.396 0.652 5.182 1.23 23.174

Replicate 2 fatigue strength [105 cycles

4.324 2.889 0.752 15.932 0.564 6.743 1.615 21.724

Table 5 ANOVA Table to Identify Signicant Factors Inuencing Fatigue Strength Source of variation
Replicates Main effects A B C Two factor interaction AB AC BC Three factor interaction ABC Error Total

Codes
SSR SSA SSB SSC SSAB SSAC SSBC SSABC SSE SST

Sum of squares
0.087396 390.409 178.243 12.01488 260.524 43.85419 15.6045 0.2197 2.50798 903.46465

Degree of freedom
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 15

Mean square
0.087396 309.409 178.243 12.01488 260.524 43.85419 15.6045 0.2197 0.313498 60.23097

Fcal = (Ms/error Ms)

0.2787768 1245.3317 568.5618 831.022 38.325 139.8866 49.77543 0.70080

244

j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 8 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 241247

Fig. 2 Residual plots of the response functionfatigue strength Y(N) .

variance (ANOVA) (Balasubramanian et al., 1997) as shown in Table 5. ANOVA is a statistical technique used to test for signicance of the difference between more than two sample means. It is also used to conrm whether the samples are drawn from populations having the same mean. Comparison of Fcalculated values with Fcritical values will give an insight into the signicance of the process parameters and their interactions with the process. The above analysis is done using F-distribution. Fcalculated values are obtained from the ANOVA table and the Fcritical values from the F-distribution table. Fcritical values for {1,8} degrees of freedom are above 5.32 for 95% condence and are above 11.26 for 99% condence level (Kothari, 2000). Thus from Table 5 it is evident that except replicates and three-factor interaction, all other factors have signicant effect on fatigue strength. Representing the fatigue strength by Y the response function can be expressed by the following equation: Y = f (St , AT , At ) (1)

Where Xi is the corresponding coded value of the process parameters (obtained from Table 3.) and Yi is the corresponding response output variable value obtained from the experiment (obtained from Table 4.) and n is the total number of treatment combinations considered (i.e., 8). Thus Eq. (4) represents the nal mathematical model developed by the above analysis (substituting the values obtained from Eq. (3) in Eq. (2)) Y = 6.744 + 4.939St + 3.337AT + 0.866At + 4.035St AT +1.655AT At + 0.90St At (4)

The model selected includes the effects of main variables and rst order interactions of all variables. Hence the general model is written as the following equation: Y = 0 + 1 St + 2 AT + 3 At + 4 St AT + 5 St At + 6 AT At (2)

where 0 = average of response (Y) obtained from results shown in Table 4.And 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 are calculated using the following equation: i = Xi Yi n (3)

i vary from 1 to n.

The adequacy of the developed model was checked by nding the correlation coefcient R (Snedecor and Cockran, 1967) which comes to 0.9587. Thus the calculated R value reveals that the developed model has high correlation with the experimental values. The residual plots for response parameter Y(N) are shown in Fig. 2. The normal plot of residuals approximates to a straight line, I-chart of residuals does not exhibit any specic trend, and the histogram of residuals follow a normal probability curve and the points on residual versus ts plot is scattered widely over the entire range. These plots do not reveal any model inadequacy or unusual problem with normality assumptions (Montgomery, 1991) and moreover all the residual values fall within the control limits as well. The pie chart (Fig. 3) shows the percentage of the effects of the three parameters and their rst order interaction on fatigue strength. Solutionizing time (St ) has the maximum inuence of 43.3% followed by the interaction effect of solutionizing time (St ) and aging temperature (AT ) (28.9%) and nally the aging temperature (At ) (19.8%). The other factors constitute the remaining 8%.

j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 8 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 241247

245

Fig. 3 Pie chart depicting the inuence of process parameters on fatigue strength.

Fig. 5 SEM fractograph of the AA 6061-SiCp fatigue failed specimen (solutionizing, 3 h at 530 C and aging, 4 h at 170 C).

4.2.

Fractographic analysis

SEM fractographs of the fatigue-failed specimen are shown in Figs. 4 and 5. For the analysis purpose, specimens subjected to same aging treatment as per T6 condition (4 h at 170 C) but to different solutionizing treatment (solutionizing time 1 h and 3 h) were taken. The fracture pattern of the specimen subjected to 1 h solutionizing at 530 C and aging for 4 h at 170 C (Fig. 4) exhibits dull striation marks oriented perpendicular to the direction of crack propagation, which is an indication of partial ductile fracture. Moreover, the absence of extensive dimples over the fractured region conrms incomplete formation of precipitates in the matrix. However, the clarity of the striation marks in the crack propagation region of the specimen subjected to 3 h solutionizing at 530 C and aging for 4 h at 170 C (Fig. 5) is of high order conrming ductile type of fracture. In addition, the presence of extensive ductile dimples over the entire fractured surface ascertains the presence

of uniform and ne distribution of precipitates in the matrix. Thus from the patterns of the SEM fractographs (Figs. 4 and 5) it is evident that solutionizing time of 1 h which is usually adopted for unreinforced aluminium alloys is not sufcient for aluminium matrix-based DRCs.

4.3.

Discussion

Fig. 4 SEM fractograph of the AA 6061-SiCp fatigue failed specimen (solutionizing, 1 h at 530 C and aging, 4 h at 170 C).

From the results of DOE ndings and SEM fractographs it is observed that as individual factor, solutionizing time (St ) has the maximum inuence on the fatigue strength of AA 6061SiCp composite than other factors. The reason for the above behaviour can be explained by the following phenomenon. Conventionally, in case of monolithic alloys, age hardening is effected by holding the alloys at a temperature just below the recrystallization temperature and quenching in a cold medium at room temperature during which the dissolved second phase gets entrapped, thereby forming supersaturated solid solution. Subsequently on either natural or articial aging, the supersaturated second phase precipitates out as ne particles in the matrix (Meyers and Chawla, 1984). The nuclei of the precipitates are formed at the grain boundaries of the solid solution initially and often separate out along the grain boundaries of the matrix phase and nally inside the grains at concentrations of various defects in structure such as block boundaries, dislocations, etc. (Lakhytin, 1985). The signicance of solutionizing time (usually 1 h) for unreinforced alloy is therefore conned only to ensure complete solubility of -phase in -phase. However, in case of aluminium matrix-based DRCs the presence of reinforcing ceramic particles in the matrix alloy signicantly alters the matrix microstructure and hence the precipitation hardening process. The average size of the reinforcing ceramic particles in the matrix of the AA 6061-SiCp used in this study is 23 m. They are approximately equiaxed (the typical aspect ratio is 2), with irregular shape and sharp corners, although spherical reinforcements are also found. Assuming spherical particles of diameterd arranged in cubic lattice, the edge-to-edge distance between neighbor particles,

246

j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 8 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 241247

S is given by the following equation:

1/3

S=d

6f

(6)

tionizing treatment and aging schedule. The effect of the precipitation hardening parameters, viz., solutionizing time, aging temperature and aging time was studied. The following conclusions are derived from this work:

where f stands for the particle volume fraction (Llorca, 2002). Therefore, for DRC having 15% volume of ceramic reinforcements, S/d = 0.42. This indicates that most of the matrix is very close to the ceramic reinforcements, whose thermal and mechanical properties are different from those of the metal. This thermal mismatch between the matrix and reinforcement induces thermal residual strains (tensile in metal and compressive in the ceramic) upon cooling from elevated temperature (during solutionizing). The large residual strains thus generated in the matrix leads to stress relaxation by plastic deformation, as the stress components usually exceed the matrix yield strength (Ledbetter and Austin, 1987; Suresh et al., 1989; Lendvai et al., 1974). During stress relaxation by plastic deformation dislocations are generated preferentially at the angular corners of the reinforcing particle. As regards the relationship between matrix and precipitates lattice, they can be divided into two groups, namely coherent and incoherent (which also includes the semi-coherent ones) (Llorca, 2002). The coherent precipitates (such as GuinierPreston zones) tend to nucleate homogenously in the matrix at ambient temperature or at high temperature. On the contrary, incoherent or semicoherent precipitates are prone to nucleate heterogeneously in lattice defects (such as dislocations, grain boundaries, etc.) during aging at high temperature for longer periods [i.e. several hours]. Taking into consideration of the above discussion, it can be concluded that in DRCs the dislocations generated during solutionizing due to thermal mismatch between the matrix and the reinforcing ceramic particles affects most of the matrix during aging by favouring nucleation of semi-coherent precipitates at dislocations thereby leading to reduction in the time to reach peak hardness/strength. Investigations by Appendino et al. (1991) also conrmed difculty in the achievement of the solutionized state for DRCs than for unreinforced alloy. At low temperatures, the driving force for aging process depends only on the concentration of alloying elements in the supersaturated solution (by the formation of the growth of GuinerPreston zones), while precipitates are nucleated directly on the dislocations at high temperatures. Hence, faster precipitation kinetics in DRCs is more noticeable at elevated temperatures than at ambient temperature. Therefore, the need for a longer solutionizing time and pronounced accelerated aging at elevated temperatures for DRCs is observed when compared to unreinforce alloys which concurs well with the design of experiments ndings. Nevertheless, the presence of rst order interaction is an indication that aging temperature and time has stronger dependence on the solutionizing time and proper selection of these parameters will give a synergistic effect on the fatigue strength of AA 6061-SiCp composite.

(1) The developed correlation model can be used to predict in a qualitative sense the fatigue strength in terms of precipitation hardening process parameters obtained from any combinations within the ranges studied and can be further be employed for optimisation of the process parameters. (2) Solutionizing time has more inuence than the other two parameters, viz., aging temperature and aging time on the fatigue strength of the composite. (3) The presence of rst order interaction is an indication of the interdependence of the chosen parameters on the precipitation kinetics and in turn the fatigue strength.

Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Council of Scientic and Industrial Research, India (CSIR Grant No. 70/(0043)/01/EMR-II). The authors are thankful to the Material Processing Division, Regional Research Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram, India, for providing the material used in this study.

references

5.

Conclusions

Rotating bending fatigue tests were performed on smooth specimens of AA 6061-SiCp composite with different solu-

Appendino, P., Badini, C., Marino, F., Tomasi, A., 1991. 6061 aluminium alloy-SiC particulate composite: a comparison between aging behaviour in T4 and T6 treatments. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 135A, 275279. Balasubramanian, V., Rathinasabapathi, M., Raghukandan, K., 1997. Modelling of process parameters in explosive cladding of mild steel and aluminium. J. Mater. Process. Technol. 63, 8388. Chawla, K.K., 2001. Composite Materials. Springer-Verlag, UK. Chawla, N., Habel, U., Shen, Y.L., Andres, C., Jones, J.W., Allison, J.E., 2000. The effect of matrix microstructure on the tensile and fatigue behaviour of SiC particle-reinforced 2080 Al matrix composites. Metall. Mater. Trans. A 31A, 531540. Clyne, T.W., Withers, P.J., 2002. An Introduction to Metal Matrix Composites. Cambridge University Press, UK. Das, T., Munroe, P.R., Bandyopadhyay, S., 1996. The effects of Al2 O3 particulates on the precipitation behaviour of 6061 aluminium matrix composite. J. Mater. Sci. 31, 53515361. Dutta, I., Allen, S.M., Haey, J.L., 1991. Effects of reinforcement on the ageing response of cast 6061 AlAl2 O3 particulate composite. Metall. Trans. A 22A, 25532653. Gupta, A.K., 1995. Processing of materialsmonolithic to composites. Bull. Mater. Sci. 18 (6), 773810. Handianfard, M.J., Yiu-Wing-Mai, J.C., 1993. Healy effect of ceramic reinforcement on the aging behaviour of an aluminium alloy. J. Mater. Sci. 28, 36653669. Hashim, J., Looney, L., Hashmi, M.S.J., 1999. Metal matrix composites: production by the stir casting method. J. Mater. Process. Technol. 92/93, 0107. Hochreiter, E., Panzenbock, M., Jeglitsch, F., 1993. Fatigue properties of particlereinforced metalmatrix composites. Int. J. Fatigue 15 (6), 493499. Kimpson, M.C., Swoff, T.E., 1989. Processing and properties of MMCs containing discontinuous reinforcement. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 107A, 355358.

j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 1 9 8 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 241247

247

Kothari, C.R., 2000. Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques. Vishwa Prakashan Publishers, India. Lakhytin, Y.R., 1985. Physical Metallurgy. MIR Publishers, Moscow. Ledbetter, H.M., Austin, M.W., 1987. Internal strain (stress) in a SiCAl particle reinforced composite: an X-ray diffraction study. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 23, 5361. Lendvai, J., Ungar, T., Kovacs, I., 1974. The effect of the temperature of solution treatment and quenching on the zone formation in AlMgSi alloys. Mater. Sci. Eng. 16, 8589. Lindroos, V.K., Tlvitie, M., 1995. Recent advances in metal matrix composites. J. Mater. Process. Technol. 53, 273 284. Llorca, J., 2002. Fatigue of particle and whisker reinforced metal matrix composites. Prog. Mater. Sci. 47, 283353. Lu, Y.K., Meng, X.M., Lee, C.S., Li, R.K.Y., Huang, C.G., Lai, J.K.L., 1999. Microstucture and mechanical behaviour of a SiC particles reinforced Al5Cu composite under dynamic loading. J. Mater. Process. Technol. 94, 175178. Mahadevan, K., Raghukandan, K., Senthilvelan, T., Pai, B.C., Pillai, U.T.S., 2005. Studies on the effect of delayed aging on the mechanical behaviour of AA 6061-SiCp composite. Mater. Sci. Eng. A 396, 188193. Mahadevan, K., Raghukandan, K., Senthilvelan, T., Pai, B.C., Pillai, U.T.S., 2006. Investigation on the inuence of heat treatment parameters on the hardness of AA 6061-SiCp composite. J. Mater. Process. Technol. 171, 314318. McNelley, T.R., Kalu, P.N., 1991. The effects of thermo mechanical processing on the ambient temperature properties and ageing response of 6061 AlAl2 O3 composite. Scripta Metall. et Mater. 25, 10411046.

Meyers, M.A., Chawla, K.K., 1984. Mechanical Metallurgy. John Willey and Sons, New York, USA. Miller, I., Freund, J.E., 2001. Probability and Statistics for Engineers. Prentice Hall India Ltd., New Delhi. Montgomery, D.C., 1991. Design and Analysis of Experiments. John Willey and Sons, New York, USA. Pai, B.C., Pillai, R.M., Satynarayana, K.G., Sukumaran, K., Pillai, U.T.S., Pillai, S.G.K., Ravikumar, K.K., 2001. Discontinuously reinforced aluminium alloy matrix composites. Met. Mater. Processes 13 (24), 255278. Poza, P., Llorca, J., 1999. Mechanical behaviour of Al Li/SiC composites: part II cyclic deformation. Metall. Mater. Trans. A 30A, 857867. Ray, S., 1990. Cast metal matrix compositeschallenges in processing and design. Bull. Mater. Sci. 2, 693709. Salvo, L., Suery, M., 1994. Effect of reinforcement on age-hardening of cast 6061-AlSiC and 6061 AlAl2 O3 particulate composite. Mater. Sci. Eng. 177, 1928. Sharma, S.C., 2000. Composite Materials. Narosa Publishing House, India. Snedecor, G.W., Cockran, W.G., 1967. Statistical Methods. Oxford & IBH Publishers, India. Srinivasan, D., Surappa, M.K., 1992. Effect of iron impurity and thermo mechanical processing on the age hardening behaviour of 6061 AlSiCp MMC produced by casting route. Scripta Metall. et. Mater. 27, 11391144. Suresh, S., Christman, T., Sugimura, Y., 1989. Accelerated aging in cast Al alloy SiC particulate composites. Scripta Metall. 23, 15991602.