Boron carbide reinforced aluminium matrix composite: Physical, mechanical characterization and mathematical modelling

This paper investigates the manufacturing of aluminium–boron carbide composites using the stir casting method. Mechanical and physical properties tests to obtain hardness, ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and density are performed after solidification of specimens. The results show that hardness and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Materials science & engineering. A, Structural materials : properties, microstructure and processing Structural materials : properties, microstructure and processing, 2016-03, Vol.658, p.135-149
Main Authors: Shirvanimoghaddam, K., Khayyam, H., Abdizadeh, H., Karbalaei Akbari, M., Pakseresht, A.H., Ghasali, E., Naebe, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aluminum
Artificial neural network
B4C
Density
Hardness
Mathematical models
Mechanical properties
Metal matrix composite
Modelling
Tensile strength
Thin plate spline
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Summary:This paper investigates the manufacturing of aluminium–boron carbide composites using the stir casting method. Mechanical and physical properties tests to obtain hardness, ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and density are performed after solidification of specimens. The results show that hardness and tensile strength of aluminium based composite are higher than monolithic metal. Increasing the volume fraction of B4C, enhances the tensile strength and hardness of the composite; however over-loading of B4C caused particle agglomeration, rejection from molten metal and migration to slag. This phenomenon decreases the tensile strength and hardness of the aluminium based composite samples cast at 800°C. For Al-15vol% B4C samples, the ultimate tensile strength and Vickers hardness of the samples that were cast at 1000°C, are the highest among all composites. To predict the mechanical properties of aluminium matrix composites, two key prediction modelling methods including Neural Network learned by Levenberg–Marquardt Algorithm (NN-LMA) and Thin Plate Spline (TPS) models are constructed based on experimental data. Although the results revealed that both mathematical models of mechanical properties of Al–B4C are reliable with a high level of accuracy, the TPS models predict the hardness and tensile strength values with less error compared to NN-LMA models.
ISSN:0921-5093
1873-4936
DOI:10.1016/j.msea.2016.01.114