Mechanical Properties of Aluminum/fly Ash Composites Produced by Hot Extrusion

Abstract

This research aims to investigate mechanical properties of aluminum matrix composites reinforced with fly ash (AMC/Fly ash) produced using hot extrusion.AMC/Fly ash was prepared from aluminum fine powder as matrix and fly ash as reinforcement. The various amount of fly ash of 5%; 7.5%; 10%; 12.5% and 15% wt were added to the aluminum fine powder. Each composition was mixed using rotary mixer for 3 hours. The mixture was compacted using uniaxial pressing with a pressure of 100 MPa to produce green body. The green body was hot extruded with an extrusion ratio of 0.25 and temperature of 600ºC. Bending strength, Vickers hardness, wear rate and porosity of the AMC/fly ash were measured. The microstructure was observed using SEM. The results show that mechanical properties of the composites such as bending strength and Vickers hardness increase, porosity and wear rate decrease with increasing fly ash content up to 12.5 wt %. Above 12.5 wt % of fly ash those mechanical properties of composites seems to be inverse. The properties of AMC/12.5 wt % fly ash produced using hot extrusion from green body showing the best properties in term of the bending strength, Vickers hardness, porosity and wear resistance, that are 302 MPa; 79 VHN; 0.73 % and 0,0095 mg/(MPa.m), respectively.