Impact of Silicon Content on Mechanical Properties of Aluminum Alloys

Mechanical testing plays an important role in evaluating fundamental properties of engineering materials as well as in developing new materials and in controlling the quality of materials for use in design and construction. If a material is to be used as part of an engineering structure that will be subjected to a load, it is important to know that the material is strong enough and rigid enough to withstand the loads that it will experience in service. As a result engineers have developed a number of experimental techniques for mechanical testing of engineering materials subjected to tension, compression, bending or torsion loading. In present work we have studied the influence of silicon on mechanical properties such as ductility, hardness, toughness, yield strength of Aluminum alloy. The silicon content is varied from 5, 7, 9, 12.5 and 14 % in five different aluminum alloys. The mechanical properties were measured using the tension test. It was found that the ductility has been increased after increase in silicon percentage. Also there is a significant change in ultimate tensile strength and hardness due to silicon