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Item Microstructure, mechanical and wear properties of the A357 composites reinforced with dual sized SiC particles(Elsevier Ltd, 2019) Avinash, A.; Bontha, S.; Krishna, M.; Koppad, P.G.; Ramprabhu, T.Current work reports on the development of A357 alloy composite which is reinforced with dual size SiC particles by stir casting route. Influence of different weight fractions (3% coarse+ 3% fine, 4% coarse + 2% fine, and 2% coarse + 4% fine) of dual size SiC particles on mechanical properties and wear resistance of A357 composites is the focus of this work. Hardness and tensile properties were studied for dual size composites and then were compared with A357 alloy. Microstructural study, fractured surface and worn surface investigation were carried out using optical and scanning electron microscopes respectively. Microstructural analysis showed fairly uniform dispersion of dual size SiC particles in A357 matrix with good interfacial bonding. Compared to A357 alloy, the composites showed improvement in hardness, yield, and tensile strength. In particular, composite with 4 wt. % of fine and 2 wt. % of large SiC particles displayed the highest tensile strength while composite with 4 wt. % of large and 2 wt. % of fine SiC particles exhibited high hardness and wear resistance among A357 alloy and dual particle size composites. The strengthening mechanisms that contributed to improvement in strength values were effective load transfer and dislocation strengthening due to thermal mismatch. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.Item The effect of heat treatment on the mechanical and tribological properties of dual size SiC reinforced A357 matrix composites(Elsevier Editora Ltda, 2020) Avinash, A.; Prabhu, T.R.; Babu, U.S.; Koppad, P.G.; Gupta, M.; Krishna, M.; Bontha, S.In the present work, the effect of aging temperature and particle size ratio of SiC particles on the mechanical and tribological properties of A357 composites reinforced with dual particle size SiC were investigated. The composites were prepared by melt-stirring assisted permanent mold casting technique with different weight fractions (3% coarse +3% fine, 4% coarse +2% fine, and 2% coarse +4% fine) of large and small size SiC particles. These three prepared composites are referred as DPS1, DPS2 and DPS3 composites. The solutionizing temperature was maintained constant at 540 ?C for 9 h while the aging was done at 160 ?C, 180 ?C and 200 ?C (T6 treatment) for 6 h. Optical and scanning electron microscopy studies showed fairly uniform dispersion of dual size SiC particles in A357 matrix with good interfacial bonding. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy images showed formation of uniformly dispersed needle-like phase and spherical shaped -Mg2Si precipitates under peak aging conditions. Compared to T6 treated A357 alloy, the T6 treated DPS A357 composites showed improved yield strength, tensile strength, hardness and wear resistance. Among the three composites, hardness and wear resistance of T6 treated DPS2 composite was found to be significantly higher when compared to the other two composites (DPS1 and DPS3). Ratio of large particles to small particles also seems to effect the mechanical and tribological properties. Presence of more small particles was found to be good for strength and ductility whereas more large particles were found to be good for hardness and wear resistance. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND licenseItem Development of thick SiC coating on thin wall tube of zircaloy-4 using laser based directed energy deposition technique(Elsevier B.V., 2020) Rai, A.K.; Srinivasulu, B.; Paul, C.P.; Singh, R.; Rai, S.K.; Mishra, G.K.; Bontha, S.; Bindra, K.S.In the present study, optimization of various laser-processing parameters for the deposition of thick SiC coating on zircaloy-4 (Zry-4) tube is studied in view of the development of accident tolerant fuel clad material for current and future nuclear reactors with the enhanced safety. The SiC coatings are deposited using laser directed energy deposition (LDED). It is found to be quite challenging to deposit desired SiC coating on a thin (~400 ?m) substrate of Zry-4 tubes due to either its excessive melting or damage. This is minimized largely by cooling the tube from inside by passing Ar gas (20 l min?1). It is observed that different processing parameters play a vital role on homogeneity, uniformity and defects-free SiC coatings as well as on the melting and oxidation of Zry-4 substrate. A uniform and homogeneous coating of SiC is deposited on Zry-4 at the optimized laser power density of 4.52 kW cm?2, powder feed rate of 2.71 g min?1and scan speed of 325 mm min?1. The interface between SiC coatings and substrate is characterized using different techniques such as optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction to access the homogeneity, uniformity, defects and to identify the different phases formed in the coated layer. Coated layer is found to be consisting of Zr(?), SiC, ZrSi2, ZrSi and ZrC types of phases and the same is also confirmed by the ThermoCalc(R) based ternary phase diagram. Further, the effect of processing parameters on substrate melting and the nature of SiC coating is explained by simulating the substrate temperature using COMSOL@ multi-physics. To the author's best knowledge, this would be the first study to report the laser directed energy deposition of SiC on Zry-4 alloy. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.Item Free vibration analysis of A357 alloy reinforced with dual particle size silicon carbide metal matrix composite plates using finite element method(Polska Akademia Nauk, 2021) Avinash, A.; Mahesh, V.; Prabhu, R.T.; Gowdru Chandrashekarappa, M.G.C.; Bontha, S.In this work, the free vibration behaviour of A357 composite plate reinforced with dual particle size (DPS) (3 wt.% coarse + 3 wt.% fine, 4 wt.% coarse + 2 wt.% fine, and 2 wt.% coarse + 4 wt.% fine) SiC is evaluated using the finite element method. To this end, first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) has been used. The equations of motion have been derived using Hamilton's principle and the solution has been obtained through condensation technique. A thorough parametric study was conducted to understand the effect of reinforcement size and weight fraction, boundary conditions, aspect ratio and length-to-width ratio of plate geometry on natural frequencies of A357/DPS-SiC composite plates. Results reveal significant influence of all the above variables on natural frequency of the composite plates. In all the cases, A357 composite plate reinforced with 4 wt.% coarse and 2 wt.% fine SiC particles displayed the highest natural frequency owing to its higher elastic and rigidity modulus. Further, the natural frequencies increase with decrease in aspect ratio of the plate geometry. Natural frequency also decreases with increase in the number of free edges. Lastly, increasing the length-to-width ratio drastically improves the natural frequency of the plates. © 2021 Polish Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.