Influence of Nanoparticles Reinforcements on Aluminium 6061 Alloys Fabricated via Novel Ultrasonic Aided Rheo-Squeeze Casting Method

Abstract

Abstract This study emphasis on a novel fabrication technique to fabricate hybrid cermets using Al 6061 alloy with nano sized SiC, Al2O3 and TiO2 as reinforcements. During the fabrication process, the melted pool was ultrasonicated to disperse nanoparticles at 20 kHz for 5 min and pressure of 50 MPa was applied to eliminate voids. The influence of nanoparticles on physical, thermal and mechanical properties were evaluated by tensile, wear and thermal studies. Cermets with Al2O3 reinforcements showed higher mechanical performance compared to Al alloy. This enhancement could be related to the uniform distribution of Al2O3 with refinement in grain size of Al alloy which was observed via surface analysis. The morphological studies provided justifiable evidence of homogeneous distribution, nominal cluster along with agglomeration and cavities shrinking on the cermets. The agglomeration of nanoparticles along with SiC protected the cermet in corrosion and abrasive wear by ~ 97% and ~ 71%. The study evidenced the novel fabrication method using ultrasonic rheo-squeeze casting led to improvement in mechanical and thermal properties of the hybrid cermets. Graphical abstract