Analysis and Mechanical Performance of Stone Dust Reinforced Al (6063)

Abstract

This research technically aims at utilizing stone dust as reinforcement to check the mechanical properties of Al(6063) with different weight ratio of the reinforcement. The alloy consisting of 0, 2, 6 and 10 wt% of the reinforcements were produced using double stir casting method. Evaluation of the microstructure, percentage porosity check, measurement of density and mechanical properties of the composites produced were used to check the performance levels of the composite produced. The results obtained show that the microstructure of the composite produced shows no discrepancy as the reinforcements were evenly dispersed in the matrix. The measured density of the composites decreases with an increase in the reinforcement. Hardness value increases with an increase in the reinforcement from 38.9-60 BHN with 12%, 56% and 74% respectively of the composite produced over the unreinforced sample. UTS value for composite with 2 wt% has the highest peak value of all the composites produced and the value decreases with an increase in reinforcement for the 6 wt% and 10 wt% respectively. However, percentage elongation values of the composites drop with an increase in the reinforcement from 8% to about 25% over the unreinforced composite. Materials resistance to crack propagation (fracture toughness), the 2 wt% reinforced composite has the highest value over others that are also reinforced. It increases by 30% over the unreinforced composite. However, corresponding decrease was observed for the 6 wt% and 10 wt% reinforced composite.