International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) e-ISSN: 2395 -0056 Volume: 02 Issue: 03 | June-2015 www.irjet.net p-ISSN: 2395-0072 © 2015, IRJET.NET- All Rights Reserved Page 774 EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION AND MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF A356.1 ALUMINIUM ALLOY MATRIX COMPOSITE REINFORCED WITH SILICON CARBIDE Puneeth H M 1 , Girish K B 2 , B H Vasudevamurthy 3 1 Student, M Tech (Machine Design), Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Shridevi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Tumkur, Karnataka, India 2 Associate Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Sapthagiri College of Engineering, Bangalore, India 3 Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Shridevi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Tumkur, Karnataka, India ---------------------------------------------------------------------***--------------------------------------------------------------------- Abstract - Aluminium matrix composites (AMC’sȌ reinforced with Silicon Carbide (SiC) particles are being used for high performance applications such as Automotive, Aerospace, Military and Electrical Industries, because of their improved physical and Mechanical properties. In this context, A356.1 Aluminium alloy was reinforced with varying weight percentages of 0, 5.0, 10.0 and 15.0 Silicon Carbide, through Stir Casting Technique. The composites were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Mechanical properties such as Hardness, Impact Strength, and Wear were carried out for different conditions. The results reveal that the Metal Matrix Composite ȋMMC’SȌ containing 15 weight percentage of Silicon Carbide reinforcement was shown more improvement in Mechanical properties. Key Words: Metal Matrix Composite, SiC/A356.1 Composite, SEM 1. INTRODUCTION Composites are the combination of two or more constituent material with significantly different physical and chemical properties with characteristics different from individual components. They commonly consist of a continuous phase called matrix and discontinuous phase in the form of fibers, whiskers, or particles called as reinforcement. Due to their characteristics of behavior with their high strength to weight ratio, Composite materials are gaining wide spread acceptance. Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) are materials with metals as the base and distinct (Matrix) phase and typically the ceramic phases added as reinforcements to improve the mechanical properties. Excellent mechanical performance, high working temperature, wear resistance, low creep rate etc are the main advantages of MMCs. Superior combination of above mentioned properties are offered by MMCs in such a manner that today no existing monolithic material can deliver and hence they are increasingly being used in the aerospace and automobile industries. "Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs)" are broadly refers to a composite system which is based on metal or alloy substrate, combined with metallic or non-metallic reinforcements. MMCs are widely used in aerospace industry and other high technology fields. In the past years, MMCs have been extensively studied, especially including the fabrication methods. The number of Aluminium products is rapidly growing. Since more and more Engineered Materials are meeting the global market. The continuous revolution in Metal Matrix Composites will results in the fabrication of Aluminium materials with properties and functionalities. They are going to have positive changes in the lives of our people, be it in Aerospace, Automobile, Electronics, Health, Environment or any other field [12]. Promotion of the developments of MMCs, due to their lowered cost of fabrication and enabled applications of MMCs extended from high technology to automobile industry is done by a variety of manufacturing processes, such as stir casting, semi-solid casting and spray deposition. Demand for developing metal matrix composites is much necessary for use in high performance applications such as, Aerospace, Automobiles, Electronics, and Computer industries. Aluminium alloy matrix composite attracts much attention towards manufacturing the components, due to their lightness, high thermal conductivity, moderate casting temperature etc...[6]. A significant improvement in the properties of Aluminium alloys, reduced fuel consumption, made huge demand for automobile industry because of light weight. This growing requirement of materials with high specific mechanical properties and with weight savings, as fuel significant research activities targeted primarily for further development of Aluminium based composites in recent times.