EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF THE WEAR AND

HARDNESS PROPERTIES OF HYBRID METAL-

MATRIX COMPOSITES OF Al (LM25) WITH EQUAL
VOLUME OF TiO2 + SiC
A PROJECT REPORT

Submitted by

MD. REHAN ANWAR 512213114096

G. MOHAMMED SHARUK 512213114098
E. MOHANRAJ 512213114099
P. KAMESH 512213114073
In partial fulfillment for the award of the degree
of

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING
IN
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

SKP ENGINEERING COLLEGE, TIRUVANNAMALAI

ANNA UNIVERSITY: CHENNAI-600 025

APRIL 2017

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 ANNA UNIVERSITY: CHENNAI-600 025

BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE
Certified that this project report EXPRIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF
WEAR AND HARDNESS OF HYBRID METAL COMPOSITES OF Al
(LM25) WITH EQUAL VOLUME OF TiO2 + SiC is the bonafide work of,
MD REHAN ANWAR (512213114096), G.MOHAMMED SHARUK
(512213114098), E.MOHANRAJ (512213114099), P. KAMESH
(512213114073), who carried out the project under my supervision.

SIGNATURE
Dr. J.KUBERAN, M.Tech, Ph.D,
HEAD OF DEPARTMENT
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
SKP Engineering College,
Tiruvannamalai 606 611.
SIGNATURE
Mr. R.SRIDHARAN, M.E
ASST PROFFESOR
Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
SKP Engineering College,
Tiruvannamalai 606 611.

Submitted for the university examination held on _____________

INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are highly indebted to our honorable chairman Mr. K.

KARUNANITHI, B.E., M.B.A., for their support and constant supervision as
well as for providing their constant support in completing the project.

We express our deep sense of gratitude to our beloved principal thank Dr.
A. SUBRAMANIABHARATHI, M.E., Ph.D., for his noble support and the
valuable guidance provided by him.

No words of gratitude will sufficient for the unquestioning support

extended to us by our Head of the Department Dr. J. KUBERAN, Ph.D., for
being ever supporting force during our project work.

We wish to express our deep sense of gratitude to our Internal Guide Mr.
R. SRIDHARAN, M.E, and project coordinator Dr. J. KUBERAN, Ph.D, for
his able guidance and useful suggestions, which we in completing the project
work, in time.

We also establish our grateful thanks to all our faculty members of our
Mechanical Department for their able support and guidance.

Finally, yet importantly, we would like to express our heartfelt thanks to

our beloved parents for their blessings, our friends and classmates for their help
and wishes for the successful completion of this project.

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 ABSTRACT
Automotive industries are attracting towards the use of Aluminium
(LM25) with composition of Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) and Silicon Carbide (SiC)
metal matrix composites. Aluminium with equal volume of TiO2 + SiC base
alloys are perhaps most common particularly due to very attractive characteristics
such as high strength to weight ratio, good workability, excellent cast ability,
good thermal conductivity and corrosion resistance.

In this paper Aluminium with two metals TiO2+SiC composites

containing three different weight percentages 2%, 4% & 6% have been fabricated
by stir casting method. Friction and wear characteristics of Al LM25 with TiO2 +
SiC composites have been investigated under dry sliding conditions and
compared with those observed in pure aluminum LM25.

Dry sliding wear tests have been carried out by using pin-on-disk machine
at normal loads of 1 kg. The Cylinder size of the Pin On Disc wear testing
machine is as 150mm diameter and 500mm Length. The testing is done on above
material by varying load, speed and sliding distance.

The normal Hardness tests have been carried out by using Brinell Hardness
Machine. The testing carried separately for 2%, 4%, & 6%. The Hardness
measured in HBW (10/1000).

It appears that the pin-on-disc test can give considerably useful and
informative friction and wear results .it was observed that the wear rate varies
linearly with normal load but lower in composite compared to that in base
material.

Further it was found from experimentation that the wear rate decreases
linearly with increasing weight fraction of TiO2. The best results have been
obtained at 6% weight fraction of TiO2 + SiC.

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 LIST OF FIGURES
Z TITLE PAGE NO
1.1 Classification of aluminium alloy 4
1.2 Abalone shell (coco3) 8
1.3 Scallop shell 8
1.4 Stir casting setup 11
1.5 Gas pressure infiltration 12
1.6 Squeeze casting infiltration 12
4.1 Aluminium LM 25 bar 26
4.1 Pin specimen 26
4.2 Titanium Dioxide powder 27
4.3 Silicon Carbide Powder 28
4.4 Flux Powder 28
5.1 Stir Casting Furnace heating furnace 31
5.2 Molten aluminium in Furnace 33
5.3 Muffle Furnace with Crucible 34
5.4 TiO2 + SiC mixing with Aluminium 35
5.5 Stir rod inserting in Furnace 35
5.6 Mixing of components by stirring process 36

5.7 Mould Cavity 36

5.8 Pouring of molten metal into cavity 37
5.9 metal removed from the mould cavity 39
5.10 Sample composites 40
6.1 Drum Tight Sheet Setup 43
6.2 Wear Tested Sample 44
7.1 Hardness Tested samples 51
7.2 Hardness Graph for 2% TiO2+SiC in Al 52

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7.3 Hardness Graph for 4% TiO2+SiC in Al 52
7.4 Hardness Graph for 6% TiO2+SiC in Al 53
7.5 Overall Graph of hardness of samples 53

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 CONTENTS
DESCRIPTIONS PA
GE
NO

ABSTRACT Iv
LIST OF FIGURE V
CONTENTS Vii
LIST OF TABLES X

CHAPTER TITLE PA
GE
NO
1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1.1 Advantages of Aluminium 2
1.2 Aluminium Alloys 3
1.2.1 Cast Aluminium Alloys 4
1.2.2 Wrought Aluminium Alloys 6
1.3 Application OF Aluminium Alloy 7
1.4 Introduction to composite materials 8
1.5 Classification Of Composites 8
1.5.1 Natural Composites 8
1.5.2 Man-Made Composites 9
1.6 Metal Matrix (Primary Phase) 9
1.7 Reinforcement (Secondary Phase) 9
1.8 Processing OF MMCS 10
1.8.1 Liquid Metal Techniques 10
1.8.1.1 Stir Casting Process 11
1.8.1.2 Infiltration 11
1.8.1.3 Gas Pressure Infiltration 12
1.8.1.4 Squeeze Casting Infiltration 12

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 1.8.1.5 Pressure Die Infiltration 13
1.9 Wear 13
1.9.1 Adhessive wear 13
1.9.2 Friccohesity 13
1.9.3 Abrasive wear 13
1.9.4 Surface fatigue 14
2 LITERATURE REVIEW 16
2.1 Gaps Found From Literature 21
3 PROBLEM FORMULATION 22
3.1 Objectives OF Present Work 22
4 SPECIMEN PREPARATIONS 23
4.1 Manufacturing of LM 25 bar 23
4.1.1 Mechanical properties 23
4.1.2 Strength elevated temperatures 24
4.1.3 Physical properties 24
4.2 Machinability LM 25 24
4.2.1 Corrosion resistance 24
4.2.2 Anodizing 25
4.2.3 Heat treatment 25
4.2.4 Applications and general notes 25
4.2.5 Properties of LM 25 26
4.3 Titanium Dioxide Powder 26
4.4 Silicon Carbide Powder 26
4.5 Flux 26
4.6 Pigment 27
4.7 Photo Catalyst 27
5 MIXING OF MATRICES 30
5.1 About Stir Casting 30

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 5.2 Importance Of Stir Casting 30
5.3 Stir Casting Process 31
5.4 Working Of Stir Casting Process 31
5.5 Advantages Of Stir Casting Process 32
5.6 Stir Casting Process Sequence 32
5.6.1 Melting 33
5.6.2 Mixing of TiO2+SiC equally 33
5.6.3 Mixing 34
5.6.4 Preheating of TiO2+SiC 34
5.6.5 Stirring 34
5.6.6 Mould cavity 36
5.6.7 Pouring 37
5.6.8 Solidification 38
5.6.9 Removal of samples 38
5.6.10 Fabricated samples 39
5.7 Process Outline 37
6 EXPERIMENTATION 42
6.1 Drum Tight Sheet Method 42
6.2 Experimental procedure 43
6.3 Experimental Setup For Wear Test 44
6.4 Wear Tested Samples 44

6.5 Wear rate formula 45

6.6 Calculation 45
6.7 Wear Rate Calculations 47
6.8 Wear % age Calculation 48
6.9 Drum Tight Wear Test Result 48
6.10 Coefficient Of Friction 49

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 41
41
42
43
44
45
46
7 HARDNESS 50
7.1 Hardness Test 50
7.2 Rockwell Hardness Test 50
7.3 Hardness Test Results 51
7.4 Tested Hardness Values 52
7.5 Graphical representation 52
7.6 Overall Hardness Sample Graph 53
8 CONCLUSION 54
8.1 Scope Of Future Work 55
9 REFERENCES 56

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 LIST OF TABLE
TABLE NO TITLE PAGE NO
1.1 Designation of Cast Aluminium alloys 5
1.2 Designation of Wrought Aluminium alloys 6
1.3 Application of Aluminium alloys 7
1.4 Reinforcement of Aluminium Alloy 10
4.1 Mechanical properties 23
4.2 Physical properties 24
4.3 The nominal chemical composition of AlLM 25 26
5.1 Mixing Composition 34
6.1 Wear test dimension 44
6.2 Wear Test Result 48
7.1 Tested Hardness Values 52

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