Effect of T6 Heat Treatment on Hardness Wear and Fatigue Behaviour of Nickel Coated Carbon Fiber Reinforced Al-7079 MMC

Aluminum metal matrix composites are preferred over other conventional materials in the field of aerospace, marine and automotive applications due to their improved tribological and mechanical properties and increased strength to weight ratio. As reinforcement carbon fiber is a very promising material and carbon fibers increase the wear resistance and also reduce the friction coefficient of AMCs. Al 7079 consists of zinc as the major alloying element which has good fatigue strength and is strong, but has average machinability. But T6 heat treatment improves its machinability and also increases its hardness. This paper presents electroless nickel coating to coat the carbon fibers with nickel. These coated fibers are then mixed with aluminium 7079 alloy by stir casting technique. The casted AMC was subjected to T6 heat treatment and hardness, wear and fatigue property of the composite was evaluated.