EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON STIR CAST ALUMINIUM WITH ALUMINIUM OXIDE POWDERS

Aluminium MMC's are chosen over other conventional materials in aeronautics, automobiles and in oceanic areas because of their enhanced abilities such as high strength to weight ratio, stiffness, corrosion resisting nature, and tribological properties. The sStir casting technique is one of the promising and economical routes for producing Al MMC's. Literature shows that only Aluminium alloys were reinforced with Aluminium Oxide (Al2O3), SiC, Graphite but pure Aluminium was not used with the only alumina. The composite under study contains Aluminium as Matrix element and alumina as reinforcement. The Aluminium is stirring cast and in the molten Al, 5wt% and 10wt% of Aluminium Oxide powders are added. The obtained composite castings are tested for Hardness using the Vickers Hardness Tester. The results of pure Aluminium and that of composites are compared. A hHardness of 90% Al&10%Al2O3 composite is higher than the rest of the samples. The microstructure of these samples is studied and obtained using the Advanced microscope image analyzer. Wear test is also performed using the pin- on-disc tribometer for tribological details like Wear, Frictional Force, C oefficient Of Friction and respective graphs are also plotted for further study. KEYWORDS: Aluminium Metal Matrix Composites, Stir Casting, Wear Test, Hardness & Microstructural Study