Fabrication and Testing of an Aluminium a356 Alloy Base Composite Blend with Al2O3 Particle

Aluminium is quite a new material and the production of aluminium alloy castings has greatly increased in the last recent years. Nowadays, there is a continuous market requirement to produce lighter vehicles and to increase fuel efficiency, therefore roughly two thirds of all aluminium castings production is within the automotive field. Even though the applications of aluminium in this scenario are considerable, some aspects affecting the quality and the soundness of cast products are still not fully understood. Aluminium matrix composites with Al2O3reinforcements give superior mechanical & physical properties. Their applications in several demanding fields like automobile, aerospace, defense, sports, electronics, bio-medical and other industrial purposes are becoming essential for the last several decades. Various manufacturing processes e. g. stir casting, ultra-sonic assisted casting, compo-casting, powder metallurgy, liquid infiltration are being utilized for the production of the aluminium matrix composites. These composite materials possess improved physical and mechanical properties e. g. lower density, low coefficient of thermal expansion, good corrosion resistance, high tensile strength, high stiffness, high hardness and wear resistance. This paper reviews the characterization of mechanical properties with production routes of powder metallurgy and castings for aluminium matrix- Al2O3 composites. Reinforcing aluminium matrix with much smaller particles, submicron or nano-sized range is one of the key factors in producing high-performance composites, which yields improved mechanical properties. The A356 belongs to a group of hypo eutectic Al-Si alloys and has a wide field of application in the automotive and avionics industries. It is used in the heat treated condition in which is an optimal ratio of physical and mechanical properties is obtained. The alloy solidifies in a broad temperature interval (43 C) and is amenable to treatment in the semi solid state as well as casting [1, 2]. Forthis reason it is the subject of rheological investigations. The study of the wear behavior of the particle reinforced aluminum matrix composite developed using different fabrication techniques done by many researchers is discussed in this chapter. The work of this review paper is planned with the aim keeping in view the gap in the study, which act as the base of further investigation.