Effect of Heat Treatment (T6) on Mechanical Behaviour of Double Sized B₄C Ceramic Particle Reinforced A356 Composite

In this work an effort has been made to produce Aluminum Metal Matrix composites(AMMC) with A356 alloy as matrix and two sizes of (44 Micron and 105 Micron) Boron carbide particle (1% fine and 1% coarse) as reinforcement under as-cast and heat treated(T6) condition. Metal matrix composite specimen were prepared using stir casting method. Properties such as UTS and Percentage Elongation were conducted using Universal Testing Machine (UTM) whereas hardness was measured using Vickers hardness tester and microstructure analysis were conducted using optical microscope. Heat treated (T6) composite improved by 64.4% and 20.21% in hardness and ultimate tensile strength respectively as compared with the as-cast composite, whereas percentage elongation decreased by 34.57%. Uniform distribution of B₄C particle was confirmed by microscopy images. Also there is change of eutectic silicon morphology from needle type to approximately spherical type in heat treated (T6) composite.