IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

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Volume: 03 Special Issue: 10 | NCCOTII 2014 | Jun-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org 104
EFFECT OF POURING TEMPERATURE AND STIRRING SPEED ON
MECHANICAL, MICROSTRUCTURE AND MACHINING
PROPERTIES OF AL6061-CU REINFORCED SiC
P
METAL MATRIX
COMPOSITES

Serajul Haque
1
, Akhtar Hussain Ansari
2
, Prem Kumar Bharti
3
1
Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, Azad Institute of Engineering and Technology, Lucknow,
India.
2
Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.
3
Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department, Integral University, Lucknow, India.

Abstract
The major challenges in the fabrication of MMC are the difficulties of achieving uniform distribution of reinforcing material and
possible chemical reactions between reinforcement material and matrix. Therefore, the present research was conducted to
investigate the effect of stirring speed and pouring temperature on mechanical, microstructure and machining properties of
Al6061-Cu reinforced SiC MMC by stir casting technique. The dependent variables are hardness, impact strength and metal
removal rate of MMC by electro-discharge machining while the independent parameters are five levels of stirring speed and five
levels of pouring temperature. It is observed from experimentation that with the increase in stirring speed increases the impact
strength and hardness of MMC up to a certain limit after that these properties decrease drastically. The optimal value of hardness
and impact strength for MMC is obtained at pouring temperature of 725C and 400 rpm and impact strength of MMC are least at
800 rpm and 775C and followed by 50 rpm and 675C. It is observed from an SEM study that at stirring speed 400 rpm better
homogeneity can be obtained compared to 200 and 600 rpm.

Keywords MMC, Stir casting, Stirring speed, Machining properties and Microstructure of Al-Cu-SiC MMC,
Pouring temperature effect etc.
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1. INTRODUCTION
In spite of so many research and developments in the field
of metal matrix composites (mmc) still it is not so popular
due to high production cost, however, it has a lot of superior
properties like their high stiffness, strength, corrosion
resistance, wear resistance, non-reactivity with chemicals
and so many other tailored quality which can never be
obtained by alloy of metals. Mechanical properties are
improved with increase in weight % of ceramics, stirring
time and decrease with particle size of the reinforced
ceramics [1, 2]. The pouring speed (rate) influencing the
mmcs mechanical properties of Al 6061-Cu reinforced SiC
metal matrix composites [4]. The process parameters are
influencing the mechanical and machining properties of
metal matrix composites [3, 4, 5]. A. Chennakesava Reddy
and Essa Zitoun, in their rigorous experimentation,
investigated the mechanical properties for different metal
matrix composites produced from Al 6061, Al 6063 and Al
7072 matrices alloys reinforced with silicon carbide
particulates [6]. The major hurdle in processing MMCs is
achieving a homogeneous distribution of reinforcement in
the matrix as it is influencing the properties and the quality
of the composite [7].

2. DESIGN OF EXPERIMENT
2.1 Process Parameters
The material selection criteria involve the requirement of
high strength and good corrosion resistant aluminium alloys
for the matrix materials. Present work focuses on the
mechanical properties of Aluminium-Copper-Silicon
Carbide (Al6061-Cu-SiC) metal matrix composite casting.
ANOVA were used for analysis of data. Input variables are:
pouring temperature and stiring speed, the output variables
are: hardness, impact strength and material removal rate. It
is postulated in null hypothesis that input variables (pouring
temperature and stiring speed) have no significant effect on
mechanical properties (Hardness , Impact strength and
material removal rate). Five levels of pouring temperature:
675
0
C, 700
0
C, 725
0
C, 750
0
C and 775
0
C and 50 rpm, 200
rpm, 400 rpm, 600rpm and 800 rpm and a constant pouring
speed 2.5 cm/s were considered.

2.2 Methodology
A stirring system has been developed by the motor with
regulator and a cast stirrer. To ensure the proper mixing of
melts, all the melting was carried out in a graphite crucible
in an open hearth furnace. Billet of aluminium and copper
IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

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Volume: 03 Special Issue: 10 | NCCOTII 2014 | Jun-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org 105
were preheated at 450
0
C for 40 minutes before melting and
the SiC particles were preheated at 1100
0
C for 2 hours to
make their surfaces oxidized. The furnace temperature was
first raised above the liquidus to melt the feed stock
completely and was then cooled down just below the
liquidus to keep the slurry in a semi-solid state. At this stage
the preheated SiC particles were added and mixed manually.
Manual mixing was done because difficulty in mixing by
using an automatic device when the alloy was in a semi-
solid state. After sufficient manual mixing, the composite
slurry was reheated to a fully liquid state and then automatic
mechanical mixing was carried out for about 10 minutes at
five different stirring speed of 600 rpm. In the final mixing
process, the furnace temperature was within 800
0
C and the
composite slurry was poured in a sand mould designed to
get standard specimens.



Fig1 Schematic view of Experimental setup and strirer

Table 1 Chemical compositions of Al (6061) alloy (Weight Percentage)
Mg Si Fe Cu Ti Cr Zn Mn Al
0.90 0.60 0.25 0.22 0.06 0.10 0.05 0.04 balance


2.3 Testing of Materials
1) Hardness Test : Hardness test provides an accurate,
rapid and economical way to determine the material
deformation. The Brinell scale characterizes the indentation
hardness of materials through the scale of penetration of an
indenter, loaded on a material test-piece. Hardness and
impact strength were recorded and tabulated. Hardness test
has been conducted on each specimen using a load of 250 N
and a steel ball indenter of diameter 5 mm as indenter. The
diameter of the impression made by indenter has been
measured by Brinnell microscope. The corresponding values
of hardness (BHN) were calculated from the standard
formula.

Fig 2 Standard Specimen for Brinell hardness and Impact
strength.

2) Impact Strength Test: An impact test signifies
toughness of the material that is the ability of a material to
absorb energy during plastic deformation. Impact strength is
generally lower as compared to strength achieved under
slowly applied load. Therefore the impact test measures the
IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 03 Special Issue: 10 | NCCOTII 2014 | Jun-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org 106
energy necessary to fracture a standard notch bar by
applying an input load. Izod impact strength testing is a
standard method of determining impact strength. The Izod
impact test was conducted on notched sample. Standard
square impact test specimen of dimension 75mm x 10mm x
10mm with notch depth of 2mm and a notch of an angle of
45
0
were prepared by casting
.
The machine could provide a
range of impact energies from 0 to 164J. The mass of the
hammer was 22 kg.

3) Material Removal Rate (MRR) by Electro-Discharge-
Machining (EDM) : The advantage of EDM process is its
capability to machine difficult to machine materials with
desired shape and size with a required dimensional accuracy
and productivity. Melting and vaporization of matrix
material from the plasma channel in EDM but the reinforced
ceramic particle SiC are unmelted and collected on cutting
edge as the debris. This machining mechanism has
confirmed with the earlier research [8]. Velmurugan et al.,
research on Al 6061 hybrid metal matrix composite
advocated the optimal parameter for better MRR by EDM
are current 15 Amps, voltage 30 volts , pulse on time 600 s
and 5 psi [9]. In this research above process parameters are
adopted as base metal and reinforced ceramic are same for
obtaining maximum material removal by EDM. Material for
research is Al 6061-4%Cu-5%SiC metal matrix composite.

3. RESULTS
From the surface micrographs (SEM) study it is observed
that with the increase in pouring speed up to certain limit
increases the homogeneity in mixing of SiC
p
ceramic in
matrix alloy but after that SiC
p
is separated from metal
alloys. At pouring speed 200 rpm insufficient mixing of
alloy metal and SiC ceramic [figure 3 (a)], at pouring speed
of 400 rpm having homogenous mixing is achieved [figure 3
(b)] and at pouring rate 800 rpm the clouting of SiC are
observed again [figure 3 (c)].


Fig 3 Micrograph of Al6061+4% Cu and 5% SiC Composite at different stirring speed.


Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (version-
17.0). The result of Multivariable Analysis of Variance
(MANOVA) to see the effect of input variables stirring
speed and pouring temperature on output properties such as
hardness, impact strength and material removal rate. It is
obtained from MANOVA (table-1), the effect of pouring
temperature and stirring speed are highly significant for the
output variables (hardness, impact strength and material
removal rate). However the interaction of Material Type and
pouring rate on output variables are not found significant.
The above analyses were done for 95% confidence level.

Table-2: Summary of Result Analyzed by MANOVA
Tests of Between-Subjects Effects
Source Dependent Variable
Type III Sum of
Squares Dof Mean Square F Sig.
Corrected
Model
Hardness 13623.653
a
24 567.652 41.903 .000
Impactstrength 3475.013
b
24 144.792 47.839 .000
MaterialRemovalRate 163448.187
c
24 6810.341 47.255 .000
Intercept Hardness 320264.013 1 320264.013 23641.536 .000
Impactstrength 151245.653 1 151245.653 49971.031 .000
MaterialRemovalRate 7281468.813 1 7281468.813 50523.653 .000
Stirspeed Hardness 11225.920 4 2806.480 207.171 .000
Impactstrength 2158.347 4 539.587 178.278 .000
MaterialRemovalRate 145236.720 4 36309.180 251.937 .000
Pouringtemp Hardness 1569.120 4 392.280 28.958 .000
Impactstrength 1203.413 4 300.853 99.401 .000
IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

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Volume: 03 Special Issue: 10 | NCCOTII 2014 | Jun-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org 107
MaterialRemovalRate 13799.920 4 3449.980 23.938 .000
Stirspeed *
Pouringtemp
Hardness 828.613 16 51.788 3.823 .000
Impactstrength 113.253 16 7.078 2.339 .011
MaterialRemovalRate 4411.547 16 275.722 1.913 .041
Error Hardness 677.333 50 13.547
Impactstrength 151.333 50 3.027
MaterialRemovalRate 7206.000 50 144.120
Total Hardness 334565.000 75
Impactstrength 154872.000 75
MaterialRemovalRate 7452123.000 75
Corrected Total Hardness 14300.987 74
Impactstrength 3626.347 74
MaterialRemovalRate 170654.187 74
a. R Squared = .953 (Adjusted R Squared = .930)
b. R Squared = .958 (Adjusted R Squared = .938)
c. R Squared = .958 (Adjusted R Squared = .938)


The graphical analysis of the effect of the input variables on
output characteristics is shown in figure -4 , figure-5 and
figure -6 (for, Hardness, impact strength and metal removal
rate). The graph of figure 4 (a) shows that the hardness
value initially increases with the stirring speed up to 400
rpm, thereafter it falls sharply with the increase in stirring
speed at 600 rpm and 800 rpm. For the stirring speed range
of 200 rpm to 600 rpm the optimum value of hardness was
obtained at all pouring temperature levels( i.e.,
675C,700C,725C, 750C and 775C) but at 400 rpm
stirring speed the hardness values are maximum for all level
of pouring temperature. The graph of figure-4 (b) inferred
that at 400 rpm the variation of value of hardness are linear
for pouring temperature 700C,725C and 750C means the
hardness values more stable and constant at 400 rpm but for
other stirring speed variation of hardness values are
observed. At 800 rpm and 50rpm of stirring speed the least
hardness value of MMC were observed also it can be
concluded from the graphs that at high ( i.e., at 800 rpm) the
hardness of surface of MMC were defoliated. Moreover at
675C and 775C hardness values are comparatively
substandard.

The graph of impact strength for five levels of stirring speed
and five level of pouring temperature are represented by
figure 5(a) and figure 5(b). The graph shows that superior
value of impact strength pouring temperature of 725C and
400 rpm and impact strength of MMC are least at 800 rpm
and 775C and followed by 50 rpm and 675C. The graph of
figure-6 (a) and (b) shows that the material removal rate
were high at 725
0
C compared to other pouring temperature
and 400 rpm have good impact strength compared to other
stirring speed. But at other stirring speed little variation in
impact strength were obtained.


Fig 4. (a) Stirring Speed Vs Hardness


Fig 4 (b) Pouring Temperature Vs Hardness

IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 03 Special Issue: 10 | NCCOTII 2014 | Jun-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org 108

Fig 5. (a) Stirring Speed Vs Impact Strength


Fig 5. (b) Pouring Temperature Vs Impact Strength


Fig 6 (a) Stirring Speed Vs Material Removal Rate



Fig 6 (b) Pouring Temperature Vs Material Removal Rate

4. DISCUSSION
It is inferred from experimental results that variables
(stirring speed and pouring temperature) have a significant
effect on output variables such as hardness and impact
strength. From the figure 4 & 5, it is clear that the pouring
temperature ranges from 700
o
C to 750
o
C gives the optimum
value of hardness and impact strength for all stirring speed,
when the pouring speed were kept constant at 2.5 cm/s.

No significant work has been found in literature survey on
the effect of pouring temperature and stiring speed on
Al6061+4%Cu + reinforced 5% SiC particulate MMC.

The result is partially supported by the study of Manoj et al.,
Which suggest that with the increase in the composition of
SiC, increases the hardness and impact strength, also the
study suggest that homogenous dispersion of SiC particles
in the Al matrix shows an increasing trend in mechanical
properties [10]. The result of Prabu et.al., the study conclude
that at 600 rpm for Al-10 % SiC MMC has superior value of
hardness, the reason of a better result in the context of better
value of hardness of MMC at 400 rpm instead of 600 rpm,
may be the homogeneous dispersion of SiC particles due to
stir casting technique and the addition of 4% Cu also in
present experimentation 5% SiC is considered instead of
10% SiC [11] .

5. CONCLUSIONS
A. Reinforcement of SiCp increases the Impact strength ,
Hardness and also material removal rate.
B. Increased material removal rate due to the addition of SiC
particulates are concluded as better machinability of MMC
as compared to base alloy.
C. Increase in stirring speed increases the impact strength
and hardness of material up to a certain limit after that these
properties decrease drastically.
D. The optimal value of hardness and impact strength for
MMC is obtained at stirring speed 400 rpm.
E. It is observed from an SEM study that at stirring speed
400 rpm better homogeneity can be obtained compared to
200 and 600 rpm.
IJRET: International Journal of Research in Engineering and Technology eISSN: 2319-1163 | pISSN: 2321-7308

_______________________________________________________________________________________
Volume: 03 Special Issue: 10 | NCCOTII 2014 | Jun-2014, Available @ http://www.ijret.org 109
F. The material removal rate is high in MMC at 400 rpm
and 725
o
C means better machining property is obtained
compared to other stirring speed and pouring temperature.
G. The postulation of null hypothesis failed so the
alternative hypothesis is the input variables stirring speed
and pouring temperature have a significant effect on
hardness, impact strength and material removal rate at the
constant pouring speed of 2.5 cm/s.

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