TITLE:
Fabrication and Characterizations of Mechanical Properties of Al-4.5%Cu/10TiC Composite by In-situ Method
AUTHORS:
Anand Kumar, Manas Mohan Mahapatra, Pradeep Kumar Jha
KEYWORDS:
In-situ; Metal Matrix Composites; TiC reinforcement; Mechanical Characterization
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering,
Vol.11 No.11,
November
30,
2012
ABSTRACT: Addition of reinforcement such as TiC, SiC, Al2O3, TiO2, TiN, etc. to Aluminium matrix for enhancing the mechanical properties has been a well established fact. In-situ method of reinforcement of the Aluminium matrix with ceramic phase like Titanium Carbide (TiC) is well preferred over the Ex-situ method. In the present investigation, Al-Cu alloy (series of 2014 Aluminium alloy) was used as matrix and reinforced with TiC using In-situ process. The Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) material, Al-4.5%Cu/10%TiC developed exhibited higher yield strength, ultimate strength and hardness as compared to Al-4.5%Cu alloy. Percentage increase in yield and ultimate tensile strengths were reported to be about 15% and 24% respectively whereas Vickers hardness increased by about 35%. The higher values in hardness indicated that the TiC particles contributed to the increase of hardness of matrix. Fractured surface of the tensile specimen of the composite material indicated presence of dimpled surface, indicating thereby a ductile type of fracture. During the fabrication of composite, reaction products such as Al3Ti, Al2Cu and Al3C4 were identified with various morphologies and sizes in metal matrix.