Journal of Minerals & Materials Characterization & Engineering , Vol. 9, No.1, pp.43-55, 2010 jmmce.org Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 43 Studies on Al6061-SiC and Al7075-Al 2 O 3 Metal Matrix Composites G. B. Veeresh Kumar 1* , C. S. P. Rao 2 , N. Selvaraj 2 , M. S. Bhagyashekar 3 1 Research Scholar, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, (A.P), India & Department of Mechanical Engineering, S B M Jain College of Engineering, Jain University, Jakkasandra (P), Kanakapura (T), Ramanagara (D)-562 112, Karnataka, India. 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Warangal, (A.P), India. 3 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Don Bosco Institute of Technology, Bangalore, Karnataka, India. *Corresponding author: veeru232@yahoo.com ABSTRACT The aluminum based composites are increasingly being used in the transport, aerospace, marine, automobile and mineral processing industries, owing to their improved strength, stiffness and wear resistance properties. The widely used reinforcing materials for these composites are silicon carbide, aluminum oxide and graphite in the form of particles or whiskers. The ceramic particles reinforced aluminum composites are termed as new generation material and these can be tailored and engineered with specific required properties for specific application requirements. Particle reinforced composites have a better plastic forming capability than that of the whisker or fiber reinforced ones, and thus they have emerged as most sought after material with cost advantage and they are also known for excellent heat and wear resistance applications. In this paper it is aimed to present the experimental results of the studies conducted regarding hardness, tensile strength and wear resistance properties of Al6061-SiC and Al7075-Al 2 O 3 composites. The composites are prepared using the liquid metallurgy technique, in which 2-6 wt. %’age of particulates were dispersed in the base matrix in steps of 2. The obtained cast composites of Al6061-SiC and Al7075-Al 2 O 3 and the castings of the base alloys were carefully machined to prepare the test specimens for density, hardness, mechanical, tribological tests and as well as for microstructural studies as per ASTM standards. The SiC and Al 2 O 3 resulted in improving the hardness and density of their respective composites. Further, the increased %’age of these reinforcements contributed in increased hardness and density of the composites. The microphotographs of the composites studied revealed the uniform distribution of