Effect of Graphite and/or Silicon Carbide Particles Addition on the Hardness and Surface Roughness of Al-4 wt% Mg Alloy

In this study, the fabrication of Al-4 wt% Mg-graphite and/or silicon carbide (SiC) particulate composites is described. Composites of Al-4 wt% Mg alloy with different volume percentage values of graphite and/or SiC particles are prepared using the compocasting technique. In this technique, graphite particles and/or SiC particles are added into a semi-solid slurry during the stirring of the melt. A pitched blade stirrer is used to stir the reinforcement particles in the slurry. The slurry is then poured in a metallic mold to obtain the cast composites. The effect of the addition of graphite and/or SiC particles and porosity content on the Rockwell hardness and machinability is studied in the present work. The results show that the porosities increase with increase in particles content while Rockwell hardness decreases with increase of graphite particles. But SiC particles are found to increase the hardness of composites. Surface roughness improves with graphite content in the cast composite, and poor surface finish is obtained when SiC particles are added.