Investigations Into Microstructure And Mechanical Properties Of Al 6061/Sicp Metal Matrix Composite Spur Gear Produced Via Powder Metallurgy

The characteristics of Al 6061/SiCp Metal Matrix Composite (MMC) have been established for checking the suitability of lightweight spur gear using Powder Metallurgy (P/M) technique. Aluminium powder reinforced with SiCp particle with various weight.% (0, 5, 10 & 15) and particle sizes (35 mu m and 65 mu m). The smaller sized spur gears of 4 mm module, 48 mm pitch circle diameter and 22 mm face width were chosen. The complex gear profiled compaction die assembly was manufactured for making net shaped gear without any machining operation. The H frame hydraulic press was used to compact gear samples with compaction pressures of 132 MPa and 165 MPa. Then gear samples were sintered using muffle furnace at 570 degrees C. The prepared gear samples were used for density measurement, bending strength test, hardness measurement and microstructure analysis. The research work leads to the observation of Al 6061 with 10 wt.% & 35 mu m size of (SiCp) P/M gear exhibiting a greater enhancement of mechanical properties than the unreinforced Al alloy. Thus the effect of adding ceramic particles SiCp with Al 6061 enhanced the mechanical properties and enabling Al 6061/SiCp composite spur gear suitable for lightweight applications.