MECHANICAL AND WEAR BEHAVIOUR OF AL 6063 REINFORCED WITH SNAIL SHELL AND COPPER NANOPARTICLES

This work investigates the mechanical and wear behaviours Al 6063 reinforced with snail shell (SS) and copper nanoparticles (CuNP). The production of Al6063 alloy based composites using two step stir casting process coupled with and spin casting technique. Charge calculation was properly worked out and charged into the crucible furnace from which as-cast aluminium was obtained. The mechanical properties of the composites produced were assessed by hardness, ultimate tensile strength test and wear test. It was observed that composite reinforced with 8% of snail shell and with addition of 2% of CuNP has the highest hardness and ultimate tensile strength values while composite with 2% of snail shell and 8% CuNP has the lowest wear rate and highest wear resistance of 2.76 x 10-6 cm2 and 3.63x 107 cm-2 respectively