IMPACT OF AL-COMPOSITES IN THE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY: A NECCESSITY

In the engineering sector today, the need to substitute for orthodox materials like wood, aluminium, steel and concrete, has led to the invention of raw materials that meet specific needs like hardiness-to-mass ratio, i.e. increased strength and light weight, increased strength of impact, dimensional constancy and resistance to corrosion. These materials are called composites. In this paper, we have assessed several articles by a number of researchers on the impact of composites in the manufacturing industry, making aluminium composites our focus. This review studied the properties, behaviours, applications, advantages and setbacks, of aluminium composites. From this study, it was observed that the automotive industry makes the most use of aluminium composites, for the manufacture of parts like pistons and connecting rods. However, processing of Al-dependent MMC's is costlier than other raw materials. And this is a major setback in the use of aluminium composites in the manufacturing industry.