Title: Heat treatment and its effect on mechanical and wear properties of Al6061/Gr/TiC hybrid MMCs

Authors: T.P. Gowrishankar; L.H. Manjunatha; B. Sangmesh

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering R L Jalappa Institute of Technology, Doddaballapur – 561203, Karnataka, India ' School of Mechanical Engineering, REVA University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering BMS Institute of Technology and Management, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Abstract: The objective of this investigation is to explore the mechanical and wear characteristics of heat-treated hybrid metal matrix composites (MMCs) comprising Al6061, 5 wt.% graphite and different fractions of Titanium Carbide. In this, composites of different configurations were prepared by employing liquid metallurgy technique. The accumulation of graphite was kept constant that is 5 wt.% while TiC was varied from 0% to 8 wt.% in a stage of 2% and are subjected to T6 heat treatment. At first, composites were exposed to solutionising heat treatment at 530°C for 8 h and followed by quenching in ice and water. Artificial ageing of quenched composites was performed for an interval of 4-10 h in a step of 2 h. The role of heat treatment and ageing behaviour of composites on mechanical and wear characteristics were investigated and compared with un-heat treated. The result shows superior hardness and wear properties of MMCs for T6 heat treatment.

Keywords: Al6061; SEM; scanning electron microscope; heat treatment; mechanical; wear; hardness; TiC; MMCs; metal matrix composites; graphite.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMP.2020.115207

International Journal of Microstructure and Materials Properties, 2020 Vol.15 No.4, pp.316 - 331

Received: 18 Feb 2020
Accepted: 28 Sep 2020
Published online: 24 May 2021 *

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