Hardness, Tribology and Microstructural studies on Aluminium – Flyash metal Matrix Composites

Abstract

Flyash reinforced aluminium metal matrix composites (Al-MMC) have been synthesized by stir casting method and was fabricated by sand casting in to required sizes. Flyash content with various compositions (9, 14 and 19 wt %) was used with aluminium metal by adding magnesium content 1% for the present investigations. Flyash content with various compositions of Al-MMCs were tested for its hardness using Vicker’s microhardness tester. It was found that the hardness increases with increase in flyash content. The surface morphology of the samples were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and optical microscopic techniques. Tribological properties such as coefficient of friction and wear rate for various flyash compositions were obtained and the results were discussed in detail.