Preparation and characterization of alloy Al -SiC made by using powder metallurgy method

Abstract

Aluminum alloy as a strategic material and is widely used in all fields because this material has high strength, high ductility and has a low mass. The main application of alloy Al is used in aeronautical and automobile applications. aluminium is light weight materias, but it has lower mechanical strength. To improve the strength of aluminium (Al), silicon carbide particle (SiC) is added to aluminium powder for preparing alloy materials. The alloy Al is produced by powder metallurgy method. This method is cheap and very effective. The alloy Al was fabricated by variation of additive of SiC from 0 %, 1 %, 3 % and 5 % wt. Four samples of the composite materials have been prepared according to testing for bulk density, compressive strength, vickers hardness and crystal structure. From the results obtained, the alloy Al - SiC can influence siqnificantly on bulk density, compressive strength and vickers hardness. If the composition of SiC increases, the bulk density, compressive strength and vickers hardness tend to increase. The highest density, highest hardness and compressive strength are achieved at sample with 5 % SiC at sintering temperature 650°C. The addition of SiC on Al metal improves value of hardness and compressive strength, where highest hardness and compressive strength value achieved about 147 Hv and 259.65 kgf/cm2 respectively. According the XRD results show that it is found two phases such as Al phase and SiC at samples with 3 to 5 % wt. of SiC.