Effect of precipitation hardening on particle reinforced aluminum alloy composites

In this research work two different composites are manufactured using Aluminum Alloy (AA) 2900 and 2024 as matrix with SiC and Al2O3 as reinforcement material through powder metallurgy technique. The objectives of this research work are to determine the influence of the sintering duration on the properties of composites and to understand the effect of different aging time on the properties of the composites. The weight percentage of reinforcement materials, sintering duration and aging duration were considered as variable parameters in this experimental work. The metal powder and the reinforcement are blended in high energy ball mill and compacted in Universal Testing Machine at a constant load of 500Mpa to fabricate green compacts. The green compacts were subjected to microwave sintering at 500°C for 60 minutes as per the design of experiments. The sintered samples are quenched in water till it reaches the temperature close to room temperature and loaded again into the sintering furnace for artificial aging (for a varying duration of 60 & 120 minutes). This will allow the samples to form CuAl2 and CuMgAl2 precipitates which are confirmed using SEM and X-ray diffraction studies. Hardness studies are carried out using Rockwell and Brinell hardness tester respectively.