Microstructure, Dislocation Density and Thermal Expansion Behavior Using Thermo Elastic Models of Zircon Sand Reinforced as Cast ZA-27 Composites

In the present work stir casting route is used to fabricate the ZA27 Metal matrix composites containing 3 wt%, 6 wt%, 9 wt%, and 12 wt%. Zircon sand particulates of size 100 mesh. Microstructure studies using Optical Microscopy, SEM-EDAX are carried out to ascertain the distribution and morphology of particulates in the composites. Effect of zircon sand as reinforcement on bulk density, porosity, of the fabricated composites is studied. SEM studies are carried out to understand the behavior of as-cast ZA27 alloy reinforced with zircon sand. The dislocation density of the fabricated composite affects the strength of the composites and depends on the strain due to thermal mismatch and is found to increase with increase in weight% of zircon sand. However, it does not consider casting defects of voids/clustering observed in micrographs of the fabricated composite. Porosity in composites does not have influence on Coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of the ZA27 composites studied using thermoelastic models like Kerner and turner model and rule of mixtures of composite.