Experimental Investigation on Hardness, Wear and Microstructure of Aluminium Metal Matrix Composite Reinforced with Aluminium Oxide and Boron Carbide

Composites with an aluminium metal matrix (AMMCs) are especially important in various fields of medicine and engineering, such as aerospace, national defence, automobiles and consumer goods, due to its light weight, excellent properties and low cost. These AMMCs offer a wide range of mechanical properties according to Al-matrix chemistry. The addition of various reinforcing additives such as Al2O3, B4C to the aluminium matrix further improves the mechanical and tribological properties. This investigation is focused on the addition of different weight percentages of Al2O3 while keeping B4C constant with Al 6061 alloy and evaluating the mechanical properties by running tests like wear, hardness and microstructure. By observing the results, a conclusion was reached that the addition of reinforcements had successfully enhanced the composite or not. In other words, it helped to improve the wear resistance of the composite in the application of automotive parts. This has been investigated by fabricating the composites by stir casting.