Synthesis and Characterization of Bioceramics Reinforced Aluminium Matrix Composites

Current work attempts to fabricate aluminium alloy AA2219 metal matrix composite (AMC) reinforced with natural bio-based sea shell powder (SSP) which is a ceramic material, in view of improving the mechanical and tribological properties. SSP was characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) to assess its chemical constituents and particle size. Stir casting route was adopted for fabricating AMCs reinforced with 1, 2 and 3 wt. % of SSP. Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) was used to analyse the formation of secondary elements during casting and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used analyze the surface morphology of the composite specimen before and after tribological tests. Hardness, Compressive strength and tribological properties were evaluated using appropriate tests and corresponding ASTM standards. Characterization methods revealed that the formation of secondary elements was very low at 3 wt. % of SSP when compared with other compositions. Hardness and compressive strength was found to be maximum for 3 wt. % of SSP while the specific wear rate and coefficient of friction values were found to be lesser for the same composite when compared with the unreinforced alloy and were on par with the AA2219 composites containing synthetic reinforcements.