Abstract. The addition of fly ash into aluminum as reinforcement can potentially reduce the production cost and density of aluminum. However, mechanical properties of aluminum matrix composite reinforced by fly ash (MMC ALFA) have some limitations due to the characteristic of fly ash. In this study, a carbothermal reduction process of fly ash and activated carbon powder with particle size < 32 mm was performed prior to produce MMC ALFA.
The process was carried out in a furnace at 1300 oC in vacuum condition under argon flow. Synthesis product was analyzed by XRD with Cu-Ka radiation. From XRD analysis, it shows that the synthesis process can produce SiC powder. The synthesis product was subsequently used as reinforcement particle. Aluminum powder was mixed with 5, 10 and 15 % of the synthesis powder, and then uni-axially compacted at pressure of 300 MPa. The compacted product was sintered for 2 hours in argon atmosphere at temperature variation of 550 and 600 oC. Flexural strength, hardness and density of MMC ALFA’s product was respectively tested using a four point bending method based on ASTM C1161 standard, Brinell hardness scale and Archimedes method. The result of this study shows increasing weight of reinforcement increase hardness and flexural strength of MMCs. Highest hardness and flexural strength of the MMC product are 300 kg/mm2 and 107.5 MPa respectively.
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