Evaluation of Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Al-Cu-TiO2-ZrO2 Composites

Abstract

Different types of aluminium alloy based composites are being developed nowadays by using various types of the reinforcements to get better mechanical properties. In this research work, a new aluminium-copper alloy based composite reinforced with 5%, 7.5% and 10% of titania (TiO₂) and zirconia (ZrO₂) mixer have been fabricated and also investigated for mechanical properties like surface hardness, compressive strength, tensile strength and micro-structural characterization has been done by using microscope, energy dispersive spectroscopy, scanning electron micro-graph with X-ray elemental mapping and X-Ray powder diffraction. The new composite has been prepared by combining three processes like sand mould casting, temporary wax pattern and stir casting which has never been used before for casting. Design of experiment has been done by employing Taguchi L18 orthogonal array in this study. It has been found that all the three mechanical properties have been escalated due to reinforcement of abrasive particles in the base alloy and the improved results of Al/Cu composites in terms of percentage are 29.72% for hardness, 31.46% for tensile strength and 43.29% for compressive strength successfully achieved in this work.