TITLE:
Forgeability and Machinability of Stir Cast Aluminum Alloy Metal Matrix Composites
AUTHORS:
Rabindra Behera, S. Das, D. Chatterjee, G. Sutradhar
KEYWORDS:
MMC, Mechanical properties, Forgeability, Machining, Surface roughness
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering,
Vol.10 No.10,
August
10,
2011
ABSTRACT: In the present paper, the aluminum alloy i.e. LM6 based composites reinforced with different
weight fraction of SiC particles was produced by stir cast technique and the effect of reinforced
ratios on the forgeability and the machinability was examined. The test results show that the
increment in weight fraction of reinforcement particles in the matrix metal produced better
mechanical property like hardness but the forgeability of the cast MMCs decreases. The
forgeability of the as cast MMCs were also varied with the change in thickness of the casting.
The results show that the forgeability of cast metal matrix composites at the mid section of the
casting is minimum compared to both end section of a three-step casting. The effect of machining
parameters, e.g. cutting speed and depth of cut on the surface roughness and cutting forces at
constant feed rate was investigated during experimentation. The results show that higher weight
percentage of SiCp reinforcement produced a higher surface roughness and needs higher cutting
forces during machining operation. It has also observed that the depth of cut and the cutting
speed at constant feed rate affected the surface roughness and the cutting forces. This practical
research analysis and test results on the forgeability and machinability of Al/SiC-MMC will
provide useful guidelines to the present day manufacturing engineers.