Investigation of Microstructure and mechanical properties of A356/SiC nanocomposites produced via a modified vortex method

In this research, the influence of various weight percentages of reinforcing particles on the microstructure and mechanical properties of composites was investigated. Aluminum alloy (A356) matrix composites reinforced with 0.5, 1 and 1.5 wt. % nano-particle SiC (about 80nm) were fabricated via stir casting method. Fabrication was performed at 610°∁ by the injection of reinforcing particles into molten alloy. The composites were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) equipped with image analyzer and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and, Optical microscope (OM). Microstructure evaluation revealed a uniform distribution of nano particles with reduced in weight percentages and the average size of dendritic arms has decreased at least 50 percent. .Brinell hardness measurement showed that addition of reinforcing particles gives rise to hardness compared to matrix alloy and the highest increase was for the sample contain 0.5% SiC with 40 percent increase. The porosity percentage in the materials was calculated according to the difference between the theoretical and measured density and revealed that porosity increased about 3% by increasing in amount of SiC particles.