Influence of In-house Synthesized Micro-Aegle Marmelos Polymer Concentration on Physico-Mechanical Properties of Aluminum-Based Composites

Abstract

For lightweight applications such as aircraft, automotive components, household, and infrastructure applications, using natural polymer fillers as reinforcement in aluminum metal matrix composites (MMCs) instead of metallic and ceramic fillers could be an attractive candidate. Therefore, the present work newly investigated the synthesis of Aegle Marmelos polymer powders (AMP) via a chemical route, followed by the fabrication of AMP-reinforced aluminum MMCs by the powder metallurgy (P/M) technique. The AMP concentration is increased in increments of 5% by weight up to 35%. The SEM results showed that the fillers are homogeneously distributed in the matrix and the bonding between them is improved. The mechanical characterization results showed that at an AMP concentration of 20 wt%, the density, hardness, and tensile strength were increased by 13%, 6.35%, and 44%, respectively, compared to the base material. In addition, a wear test is performed on the synthesized composites and the responses such as coefficient of friction and specific wear rate are individually optimized using the Taguchi approach. The common optimal parameters for the minimum coefficient of friction (0.3832) and the specific wear rate (7.83 × 10?5 mm3/Nm) are 20 wt% AMP reinforcement, sliding load 20 N, disk speed 550 rpm, and sliding time 5 min. The results of the confirmatory wear test showed that the difference between Taguchi's predicted and experimental response values ??is less than 9%. Analysis of variance results also showed that AMP reinforcement is the most significant parameter. Overall, Al-20 wt% AMP composites exhibited improved physico-mechanical properties for promising applications. © King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals 2024.