Effect of squeeze casting process parameters on surface roughness of A413 alloy and A413-B4C composites

Abstract

Aluminum alloy and their composites gather more interest in research field due to its wide applications in aerospace and automobile industries. Squeeze casting technique has potential to meet the existing demand for making the uniform, smooth surface, refined pore- free and near net shape components. In this work, a three- level full factorial design is employed to produce A413 alloy and A413-B4C composites. A surface finish of both alloy and composite varies with their process parameters and their scientific theories are discussed. Variance analysis is performed on the response using ANOVA to determine the contribution of parameters and significance of the model. The observed results indicate that A413 alloy shows smooth surface finish (0.31µm)over theA413-B4C composites (0.48µm) and the optimal parameters are 140 MPa squeeze pressure, 225°C die temperature, 725°C melt temperature, 4 Wt.% of B4C particles.