Characterization, LCA and FEA for an efficient ecodesign of novel stainless steel woven wire mesh reinforced recycled aluminum alloy matrix composite

The production of metal matrix composites generally requires higher energy and raw materials consumption, while generating more waste than conventional material processing. The possibility of reusing recycled aluminum as an alternative in the production of metal matrix composites has led to the interest in this research as it can contribute to aluminum waste and raw reduction as well as to environmental impact mitigation. This paper provides an in-depth investigation of a brand-new metal matrix composite that is produced by gravity casting. In turn, the process is based on recycled aluminum EN AW 6082 for the matrix that is reinforced with stainless steel AISI 304 woven wire mesh that is intended for industrial and commercial use. A detailed description of the production procedure is reviewed, as are the vales of toughness, yield and tensile strengths that were determined by standardized tensile and Charpy tests. Life Cycle Assessment and Finite Element Analysis were used to determine, respectively, the environmental impact and the residual stresses generated during the production of the specimens for the above mentioned tests. Five different opening and wire diameter configurations for the AISI 304 woven wires were studied in this work. In a comparison to recycled aluminum alloy EN AW 6082 without reinforcement, the best results were provided by the 2.177 mm × 0.6 mm configuration. These results were the following: (1) Yield, tensile strength and toughness showed an increase of 245.5%, 13.62% and 175.0% respectively. (2) Life Cycle Assessment increased 8.31% for the highest environmental impact obtained (Human Toxicity). (3) The Finite Element Analysis showed that the residual stresses increased in their compressive values in −10.83 MPa, −9.925 MPa and −3.84 MPa, respectively, for the stainless steel wires, aluminum matrix and wire/matrix interfaces. From the mechanical properties, the environmental impacts and the residual stresses that were obtained, one can conclude that this study has demonstrated a technically feasible practical approach to the use of the recycled aluminum alloy EN AW 6082 using AISI 304 stainless steel woven wires as materials in the metal matrix composites production. This could lead to a substantial reduction in the volume of aluminum used and, consequently, provide environmental and economic benefits.