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Lightweight metal matrix composites made of aluminium are now essential in several fields, including aerospace and automotive. An important factor determining the quality and properties of the composite material is the ease or difficulty of evenly dispersing the reinforcement throughout the matrix. The goal of this research is to find out the impact of 40 and 90 µm varyingsized boron carbide (B4C) particles in A356 alloy composites. Using the liquid stir casting technique and K2TiF6 as the wetting flux, A356 alloy with 9 wt.% of B4C composites were prepared. SEM and EDS images were used to study the material's microstructure. ASTM-approved methods were used to measure the material's mechanical properties. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) confirmed that B4C particles were evenly distributed throughout the A356 alloy. The addition of B4C reinforcement to the A356 alloy matrix increased the hardness, ultimate, yield, compression, and impact strength of composites with a reinforcement size of 40 μm. The hardness of A356 alloy was enhanced by 40.7% and 34.6%, respectively, when 9 wt. % of 40 and 90 μm B4C were added. Similarly, there was a 34% increase in ultimate strength and a 31% improvement in yield strength. Both cases showed a little decrease in the ductility of the composites. Scanning electron micrographs were used to examine the morphologies of tensile fractured surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, Al2219 composites with varying wt.% of Si3N4 particles using a combination of stir casting and squeeze casting techniques have been explored. Al2219 alloy with 3, 6, and 9 wt.% of Si3N4 composites was examined for the microstructures through SEM analysis, which revealed an even dissemination of the reinforcement particles within the base matrix. Remarkably, did not observe any issues such as particle agglomeration, residual porosity, or other casting-related problems. The inclusion of ceramic particles in the squeezed composites led to significant increments in hardness, tensile and yield strength, and Izod impact strength when compared to the base Al2219 matrix alloy. Notably, during compression testing, observed a considerable increase in compressive strengths, albeit at the expense of reduced failure strain, as the concentration of hard ceramic reinforcement particles increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Al2O3 may be the most important reinforcement in aluminum-based composites that are rising quickly in modern years. The significance of this paper is to study the influence of Al2O3p size variation (i.e. 53 µm and 88 µm) and content (i.e. 9, 12, and 15Wt %) on density, hardness, tensile strength, elongation to fracture and wear studies. During the preparation of each composite, the ceramic reinforcements were introduced in a novel way which involves two-stage additions of reinforcements during liquid stirring. It has been found that because the size of the Al2O3p is reduced, measurement of the density showed that 2014Al-Al2O3p composites contained slight porosity and also the quantity of porosity among the prepared composites higher with diminishing the Al2O3p size and increasing weight percentage of Al2O3p. In addition to this, the results show that by decreasing the Al2O3p size and increasing the weight proportion of the Al2O3p the tensile strength and hardness of the prepared composites increase. Microstructural characterization carried out for the 2014Al-Al2O3 composites using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which showed a fairly homogeneous distribution of Al2O3p with grain refinement of the matrix. Wear test is conducted for the prepared composites by utilizing a computerized pin on disc wear testing machine which shows greater wear resistance property as the size of the Al2O3p reduced.

Traditional techniques of manually extracting characteristics from monitoring data need skill in signal processing and previous knowledge in failure detection, which is seldom possible on a machinery big data platform. As a result, a unique approach for automatically extracting adaptive fault characteristics from monitoring data and intelligently diagnosing fault patterns is projected to accomplish rotating equipment problem identification on a machinery big data platform. This study is focused on knowledge acquired from vibration analysis and applying towards condition monitoring techniques. Results showed 99.87% accuracy level of vibration that improves the performance of motor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of the size and wt.% of reinforcement particles on the wear characteristics of Al2021 alloy composites. Composites of Al2021 reinforced with B4C particles of varied sizes (45 and 90 microns) were synthesised utilising a unique two-stage stir cast technique. The composites were primed with B4Cc content of 5 and 10 wt.%. The microstructural characterisation of Al2021 alloy with B4C composites of 45 and 90-micron sizes was conducted using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). In addition, wear and worn morphology tests were conducted to examine the impact of particle size on the behaviour of Al2021 alloy. Furthermore, another set of wear studies was conducted with the load maintained at 40N and the sliding speeds changed from 100 to 400 rpm. The microstructural analysis disclosed that the particles in the Al2021 alloy were evenly distributed, and the presence of elements was verified using EDS spectra. Using B4C particles of different sizes enhanced wear characteristics with resistance to wear. The load and the speed affected the wear behaviour of every prepared sample. The morphological analysis of the worn samples recognised multiple wear mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few decades, particle-reinforced Zn based metal matrix composites have begun to supplant monolithic Zn matrix. High strength to weight ratio, near-isotropic characteristics and cost are the key factors. The objective is to analyze the mechanical and wear activities of a unique composite Zn-Sn alloyed with nano B4C based on the literature. The effect of nano-sized B4C particulates on Zn85-Tin 15alloy is investigated. Nano B4C particulates are employed as reinforcement. Instep of B4C 0%, 2%, 4%, 6% and 8% by weight, composites are manufactured utilizing a two-step approach method. On a pin-on-disc type wear testing machine, wear tests were performed on all specimens under various operational settings such as typical loads of 10N, 20N, 30N and 40N and sliding speeds of 1.4, 1.8, 2.3 and 2.8 m/s at 2000m sliding distance and 90mm track diameter. Each specimen was subjected to 16 wear tests, resulting in a total of 80 wear tests. As the usual load increases, the volumetric wear rate increases, the volumetric wear rate reduces as the sliding speed increases. Corresponding worn out surface, wear debris and EDS are revealed. The surface roughness and surface hardness values increase as the sliding speed increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present investigation, microstructure study and tensile behavior of B4C particulate reinforced Al2024 alloy composites have been reported. Al2024 matrix composites containing boron carbide were fabricated by conventional stir casting method. The composites containing 3 and 6 wt. % of B4C (80 micron size)particulates were fabricated for the study. The micro- structure of the composite was examined by optical microscopy. Images were taken to identify the presence of B4C particle in aluminum matrix. Further, tensile behavior of as cast Al2024 alloy and Al2024-3 wt. % B4C and 6 wt. % B4C composites were studied. Tensile properties like ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and percentage elongation were evaluated as per ASTM standards. Microstructural observation revealed the uniform distribution of particles in the Al2024 alloy matrix. It was found from the analysis, that the ultimate tensile strength of composite was increased due to increasing amount of boron carbide particle in the composite and the yield strength was increased due to the higher value of boron carbide. Also percentage elongation of the composites decreases with increase of the order of boron carbide. Finally, it was found that in the stress - strain curve, the boron carbide was the main factor in improving the tensile strength of composites because of its high hardness. The composites in the present study have great potential for application as structural materials.