INFLUENCE OF VOLUME FRACTION, SIZE, CRACKING, CLUSTERING OF PARTICULATES AND POROSITY ON THE STRENGTH AND STIFFNESS OF 6063/SICP METAL MATRIX COMPOSITES

The objective of this study is to examine the influence of volume fraction, size of particulates, formation of precipitates at the matrix/particle interface, particle cracking, voids/porosity, and clustering of particulates on the strength and stiffness of 6063/SiCp metal matrix composites.Tensile strength and stiffness increase with an increase in the volume fraction of SiC particulates.The tensile strength and stiffness decrease with increase in size of the particulates, presence of porosity, clustering, and particle cracking.Formation of particulate clusters is more prominent in the composites having very small-reinforced particulates.Mg 2 Si compound is likely to precipitate at the matrix/particle interfaces of 6063/SiC composite.