Study the effect of silica particles on mechanical characteristics of aluminium matrix composite prepared by stir casting process.

In this study, preparation of two categories of aluminum composite materials by stir casting process one of them is SiO2 particles as a reinforcement embedded in (Al-1%Cu) matrix with added weight percent (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10), while the other is SiO2 particles coated electroless and electroplating with copper embedded in Al-Alloy. The reinforcement weight percent are (2, 4, 6, 8, and 10) after the casting, cut the samples into the suitable dimension according to each test. Mechanical tests such as hardness, compression, XRD, and SEM observation have been conducted. From these results, it is easy to show that the hardness and compressive strength improved by increasing the silicon oxide percentage in the aluminum base. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]