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Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 3289–3297

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2214-7853© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and/or Peer-review unde r responsibility of 7th International Conference of Materials Processing and Characterization. ICMPC 2017
Mechanical Characterization of Aluminium Metal Matrix
Composite Reinforced with Aloe vera powder
aCh.Hima Gireesh*, aK.G.Durga Prasad, bK.Ramji, aP.V.Vinay
aDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, G.V.P School of Engineeri ng, Technical Campus , Gayatri Vidya Parishad College for Degree &
P.G.Courses(A),Visakhapatnam-530045, India.
bDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, A.U.College of E ngineering(A), Andhra University, Visakhapatnam-530003,India.
Abstract
In the recent years metal matrix composites (MMCs) attracted the researchers more as they beco me one of the most important
structural materials depending on the requi rement. Specifically, the particulate reinforced Aluminium metal matrix composites
have received significant attention due to the improved mechanical and tribological properties such as strength, stiffness, imp act
resistance, wear resistance etc. The ceramic particles such as silicon carbide and aluminium oxide are the most widely used for
reinforcement of aluminium matrix. In the recent times, the growi ng concern of manufacturing industries is to use cost effectiv e
reinforced Aluminium metal matrix compos ites for meeting their production rates w ith least cost cons iderations without
sacrificing the specific properties. In this context, several atte mpts made by the researchers to use various materials such as
graphite, red mud, bagass ash , rice husk ash, fly ash etc for reinforcement of Aluminiu m metal matrix. In this paper an attemp t
has been made to employ Aloe vera powder as a reinforcement material for Aluminium metal matrix composites as it is readily
available less denser eco-fri endly material at low cost and it could be the alternative to fly ash in respect of better physica l and
mechanical properties. In the present work stir casting method is employed for preparing the specimens of Aluminium matrix
composite with fly ash reinforcement as we ll as Aluminium matrix composite with aloe vera reinforcement. An experimental
study has been carried on mechanical characterization of alumin ium metal matrix composites usi ng fly ash and aloe vera as
reinforcement materials separately. The findi ngs of the experimental investigation reve al that there is a significant improveme nt
in mechanical properties such as hardness, tensile strength and impact strength when aloe vera used as reinforcement material t o
that of fly ash. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and/or Peer-review und er responsibility of 7th Intern ational Conference of Material s Processing and Characterization.
Keywords: Aluminium metal matrix composites, reinforcement for metal matr ix, aloe vera powder, mechaical characterization,stir casting.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 919848855111
E-mail address: [anonimizat]

3290 Ch.Hima Gireesh et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 3289–3297
1. Introduction
Now a days metal matrix composites (MMCs) are more attractive for manufacturing industries as they are the
replacement for conventional materials in many engineering applications. In general MMCs consist of at least two
components, one is the metal ma trix (pure metal or alloy) an d the other is the reinforcem ent material. The addition of
reinforcement material into the metal matrix improves the specific strength, stiffnes s, wear, creep and fatigue
compared to the conventional engineering materials. On the basis of reinforcemen t materials, there are four kinds of
MMCs namely particle – reinforced MMCs (particulate MMCs), short fibre (or whisker) – reinforced MMCs, continuous fibre (or sheet)-reinforced MMCs and lamina ted (layered) MMCs [1].Earlier studies reveal that the
application of continuous fibre reinforced MMCs have b een hindered by high manufactu ring costs associated with
the high costs of the reinforcement fibers and highly labour intensive manufacturing processes. Consequently, utilization of these materials has been limited to military and other highly specialized applications. Even though whisker reinforced MMCs have been shown to have good combinations of strength and thermal stability relative to those of particulate reinforced materials, the commercia lization of whisker reinforced MMCs has been slow as a
result of high costs associated with cu rrently available whiskers, faulted intern al structure of whiskers etc [2]. The
particulate MMCs have recently been used in various engineering applications because of the ease of formability and relatively modest cost [3]. Explicitly the particulate Aluminium matrix com posites (PAMCs) have been successfully
used as components in automotive, ae rospace, opto-mechanical assemblies, br aking systems of trains and cars, gas
turbine engines, helicopters, military aircrafts, etc [4]. On the basis of reinforcing mate rials the PAMCs are classified
into three broad categories namely synt hetic ceramic particulates, industrial wa stes and agro waste derivatives [5].
The development of AMCs reinforced with agro and industrial waste derivatives have a lot of focus in the present day manufacturing scenario to achieve the benefits of signif icant processing cost reductio n, satisfactory physical and
mechanical properties [6]. Some of the studies made to i nvestigate the properties of AMCs reinforced with various
industrial wastes (by – products) and agro derivatives are reviewed in the following paragraphs.
Fly ash is one of the inexpensive low density materials av ailable as solid waste by-pr oduct of coal fired thermal
power plants. It has been incorporated into metal matrix composites for the last few decades to reduce their weight,
manufacturing cost and enhancing selected properties [7]. Rohatgi et al [8] tested the abrasive wear properties of stir – cast A 356 aluminium alloy-fly ash composites and they concluded that the abrasive wear resistance of aluminum-fly ash composite is similar to that of aluminum-alumina fi ber composite and is superior to that of the matrix alloy
for low loads up to 8 N (transition load) on a pin. At load s greater than 8 N, the wear resistance of aluminum-fly
ashcomposite is reduced by debonding and fracture of fly ash particles. Sudarshan and Surappa [9] investigated that the A 356 Al-fly ash MMCs reinforced with narrow size range fly ash particles exhibit superior mechanical properties compared to that with wide size range fly ash par ticles. Kulkarni et al [10] studied the effect of fly ash
reinforcement on aluminium 356 alloy an d they stated that one of the major advantages of using fly ash is of
reduction in density of AMC. Kountouras et al [11] conducted a study on synthesizing aluminium alloy 7075-fly ash composites by employing pressure infiltr ation and they concluded that high volume fraction of fly ash reinforcement
(> 40%) in the composite material led to increased wear rates but there is a considerable decrease in coefficient of
thermal expansion. Gikunoo et al [12] studied the effect of fly ash particles on th e mechanical properties of
aluminium casting alloy A535 and they fou nd that the increase of fly ash content leads to the increas e of porosity of
the castings and decrease of micro hardness, tensile stre ngth and impact energy of the MMCs. Ramachandra and
Radha Krishna [13] investigated the wear and friction charac teristics of aluminium matrix composite reinforced with
fly ash particles. They observed that the increase in fly ash content increases the wear resistance of the composite
and there is a decrease in corrosion resistance. The need of low cost reinforcement stim ulated the curiosity towards
the use of red mud as a reinforcement material in AMCs. Red mud is a by-product aris ing from caustic leaching of
bauxites during production of industrial alumina [14].A little re search work has been reported in the literature on the
use of red mud as reinforcement material in AMCs compared to that of fly ash. Pradeep et.al [15] conducted a study of mechanical properties of aluminium red mud and s ilicon carbide metal matrix composite of A7075with the
addition of varying percentages of red mud and silicon carbid e particles by stir casting technique. The experimental
results revealed that the use of th ese reinforcement materials improves th e mechanical properties like tensile
strength, compressive strength, hardness and yield strength. Gurvishal Singh et al [16] carried out experimental study to observe the micro hardness of red mud reinforced al uminium alloy A6061. Their st udy revealed that there is

Ch.Hima Gireesh et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 3289–3297 3291
a remarkable increase in micro hardness with the increase of red mud. Singla et al [17] studied wear behaviour of red
mud reinforced aluminium alloy 6061 and they concluded that the wear rate decreases when red mud is up to 7.5 wt percent, but wear rate starts increasing beyond the use of 7.5 wt percent of red mud. On the basis of experimental study, Acharya et al [18] identified that the red mud additio n is beneficial in enhancing the erosion resistance of the
composite in comparison to pure aluminum.
More recently the focus of researcher s turns towards the use of agro deriva tives as reinforcement materials in
aluminium metal matrix composites with a view to comp lementing reinforcement to either silicon carbide or
alumina. A few number of agro deriva tives such as breadfruit seed hull, ri ce husk, bamboo leaf, coconut shell,
sugarcane bagasse etc. have been processed into ashes and their suitability for use as reinforcing material have been studied. Atuanya et al [19] fabricated aluminium matrix composites (AMCs) reinforced with different volume
fractions of breadfruit seed hull ash particles by using double stir casting method. They concluded that the incorporation of breadfruit seed hull ash particles in al uminium matrix can lead to the production of low cost
aluminium composites with improved hardness and strength. Siva Prasad and Rama Krishna [20] prepared A356.2 alloy reinforced with rice husk ash (RHA) particles usin g stir casting technique and their experimentation results
reveal that the increase of RHA decreases the density of the composite and slightly increases in hardness. Saravanam
et al [21] concluded from their experimental results that the use of more than 12% weight fraction of RHA particles, the tensile strength was seen to be decreasing. Alanemeet al [22] developed aluminium hybrid composites reinforced with bamboo leaf ash (BLA) using two step stir casting technique. Their experimental results show that the hardness, ultimate tensile strength and percent elongation of the hybrid composites decrease with increase in BLA content. Aku et al [23] fabricated aluminium metal matrix com posites reinforced with coconut shell ash (CSA) and they
identified that the percentage increase CSA can lead to the production of low cost aluminum composites with
improved hardness. Bagasse is the fibrous residue of sugarcane after the crushing and extraction of its juice. Usman et al [24] examined the m echanical properties of sugarcane bagasse as h (SBA) reinforced aluminium composites and
they concluded that the mechanical prop erties are within the range of propertie s of materials used in the production
of automobile components. However, while the conversions of sugarcane bagasse, coconut shell, bamboo leaf etc in to the respective ashes, there may be the generation of air pollutant gases which lead to environmental degradation. In this context it is necessary to identify eco-friendly reinforcement materials for producing aluminium metal matrix composites. In the present work aloe vera powder is considered a novel reinforcement material for AMCs.
Aloe vera is a perennial, drought- resisting, succulent plant belonging to the Asphodelaceae family [25]. The
name Aloe vera derived from the Arabic word Alloeh and Latin word vera means shining bitter substance and true respectively [26]. Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis miller) is a tropical or sub-tropical plant which has lance-shaped
leaves with jagged edges and sharp points. This plant is being used extensively in medicinal purposes and cosmetic industry. It was originated in tropical Africa and it is now cultivated in warm climatic areas of Asia, Europe and
America. In India, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisga rh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Kerala are the
major producers of this crop. The cultivation of aloe vera plants is economically very attractive. The plantation of
aloe vera does not require much water and it requires 15 0ml of water monthly for yield of good quality leaf
weighing approximately 1 kg. In India, the average yield for organically grown aloe is about 12 tonnes per hectare [27]. The aloe vera has higher water holding capacity and essentially contains calcium (3.58%), magnesium
(1.22%), sodium (3.66%), potassium (4.06%), phosphorous (0.02%), iron (0.1%), copper (0.06%) and zinc (0.02%) [28]. It is a stem less or very short stemmed succulent plant growing to80 to 100 cm tall, spreading by offsets and root sprouts. The contact angl e for aloe vera leaves is
96.89 ° [29] and hence it possesses significant wettability. It is
a cactus like plant with green, dagger- sh aped leaves that are fleshy, tapering , spiny, marginated and filled with a
clear viscous gel [30]. As aloe vera is largely availabl e, easily cultivable, less dense eco-friendly material with
considerable wettability, it is suitable for reinforcement of AM Cs. It is observed from the literature that no work has
been reported on the use of aloe vera as reinforced material in AMCs. In this paper an attempt is made to prepare aloe vera (AV) reinforced aluminium metal matrix com posite and to examine its mechanical characterization. A
comparative study between AV reinforced aluminium meta l matrix composite and fly ash reinforced aluminium
metal matrix composite is also addressed in this paper. The preparation of separate specimens of AMC with fly ash
reinforcement and AV reinforcement, experimentation a nd mechanical characterization are discussed in the
following sections.

3292 Ch.Hima Gireesh et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 3289–3297
2. Experimentation

2.1. Matrix material and Reinforcement Materials

In the present work the commercially available pure aluminium (99.8% purity) with density 2.7 g/c.c was used as
matrix material. In order to prepare two sets of AMC sp ecimen two different reinforcem ent materials namely fly ash
and AV powder were employed in the present investigation. The fly ash (Siliceous fly ash) was procured from the
thermal power plant located in Visakhapatnam. The size of the fly ash particles in the range from 0.1μm to
100μmand its chemical composition is presented in table 1. The density and specific surface area of the fly ash
particles are 2.1 g/c.c and 3449 cm2/g respectively.
Table 1. Chemical composition of fly ash (wt %)
2Si O 23Al O 23Fe O Ca O MgO 2Na O 25PO 3SO C
63 25 6 1 0.7 1.2 0.7 0.2 0.2
The commercially available aloe vera fresh leaves of le ngth about 50 cm were obtained from a nursery located in
Kadiyapulanka village, Kadiyam, Andhra Pradesh. The leav es were chopped to a length of 5 mm and which were
washed with hot water at 80 C°to remove undesired dirt and then dried in a hot air oven for 8 hours at 100 C° to
remove excess moisture content. Then the chopped leav es were ground into a powder form about 2mm size. The
density of the powder is 1.22 g/cc. The aluminium, fly as h and AV powder are ready fo r preparing the specimens of
AMC.
2.2. Fabrication of composites

Stir casting method has been employed for preparing the tw o different sets of AMCs wi th reinforcement materials
fly ash and AV powder separately. (a) Fabrication of the AMCs reinforced with fly ash:
Initially 400 grams of pure aluminium is melted in a re sistance heated muffle furnace . The pure aluminium was
charged into graphite crucible and the te mperature of the molten metal is raised to
720 C°which is more than the
melting point of aluminium. The hexachloro ethane tablets were added during melting of aluminium with a view to preventing the inclusion of hydrogen gas there by reducing the possibility of porosity present in the casting. At the same time fly ash particles were preheated to
100 C° for a period of three hours to remove the moisture content from
it. Then the appropriate amount (10% of the wt. of base metal) of fly ash was introduced slowly into the molten
aluminium which is maintained at a temperature of 680 C°-720 C°. In order to improve the wettability 1.5 wt %
magnesium was added to the molten metal. This molten metal was thoroughly stirred using mild steel stirrer at a constant speed of 300 rpm for 5 minutes to attain uniform mixture of matrix material and reinforcement material. The melt was kept in the crucible about half a minute in static condition and then it was poured into a mild steel die and allowed to cast. The four similar specimens of AMCs re inforced with fly ash are obtained and they are the first
set of AMCs reinforced with fly ash and are coded as AMC-FA. (b) Fabrication of the AMCs re inforced with AV powder:
While fabricating the AMCs reinforced with AV powder, the pr eparation for base metal matrix is similar to that of
the fabrication of AMC-FA. After that th e preheated AV powder of 10% wt of base metal was introduced slowly in
to the molten aluminium which is at about
720 C°. To improve the wettability of AV powder, magnesium (3 wt%) was
added and then the molten metal was stirred at a constant speed of 300 rpm for 5 minutes to attain homogeneity of the mixture of matrix material and AV powder. The melt was poured into the mild steel die after the mixture was kept
in the crucible about half a minute in static condition and then it was poured and cast in a mild steel die. The four
specimens of AMCs reinforced with AV powder of same dimensions are obtained and they are the second set of
AMCs which are reinforced with AV powder coded as AMC-AV. Now the two sets of specimens are ready for testing to study their mech anical characterization.

Ch.Hima Gireesh et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 3289–3297 3293
3. Measurement of mechanical properties

The study of mechanical char acterization of the AMCs with reinforced AV powder requires the testing of the
concerned specimens. In this work the mechanical behaviour of the developed composite (AMC with AV powder) has been studied by comparing that with the AMC with fl y ash under the same criteria . In order to explore the
mechanical characterization of AMC w ith AV powder various mechanical tests have been conducted and are
discussed below.

3.1 Density Measurement
The Archimedes principle was employed to determine the density of the composites. The AMC-FA and AMC-
AV samples were weighed in air and then in distilled water separately. According to Archimedes principle the following expression was used to determine the density of the composites.
1wW
WWρρ=×− (1)
Where ρ = density of the metal matrix composite
wρ = density of water
W = weight of the composite sample in air
1W = weight of the same composite sample in water
The values of densities obtained for AMC-FA and AM C-AV are 2.6 g/cc and 2.21 g/cc respectively.

3.2 Tensile Test

The tensile test is the most common method for determining the mechanical properties such as ultimate tensile strength; yield strength, Young’s modulus etc. The materials used for engineer ing applications are usually selected
on the basis of these properties. The tensile properties are usually measured during the development of new materials, so that different material s can be compared. In the present work the tensile test was conducted on
universal testing machine (UTM) and the specimens of AMC-FA and AMC-AV were prepared as per ASTM
standards. The stress strain curve was plotted during the test for the determination of ultimate tensile strength and elastic modulus. The average values of ultimate tensile st rength and ultimate yield stre ngth were found for specimen
AMC-FA are 104.21 MPa and 53.36MPa respectively. In the case of the specimen AM C-AV, the values of the
properties are 119.83 MPa and 62.97 MPa respectively.

3.3 Hardness Test

The hardness of a material indicates the resistance to perman ent indentation. While testing the hardness of a material
an indenter is pressed into the surface of the material to be tested under a specific load for a definite time interval.
The diameter of the indentation left in the test material is measured with a low powered microscope. In the present
work Brinell hardness tester with indenter diameter 5mm was used to determine the hardness of both the specimens
of AMC-FA and AMC-AV composites. A load of 500 kgf is applied for 30 seconds on both the specimens and the average diameter of the indentation left in AMC-FA and AMC-AV specimens are 4.18mm and 3.91mm
respectively. The Brinell hardness number (BHN) is calculate d by dividing the load applied by the surface area of
the indentation. The BHN values obtained for AMC- FA and AMC-AV are 28.2 and 33.8 respectively.

3.4 Impact strength Test

Impact strength is the ability of a material to absorb ener gy before actual fracture occurs. The impact strength of the
composites was tested using a standard impact testing machine using Izod specimens. The Izod test is carried out by
a pendulum-type testing machine, which employs a cantilever test specimen 75 mm long with a 10×10 mm
2 cross

3294 Ch.Hima Gireesh et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 3289–3297
section, having a standard 45° notch 2 mm deep. The impact strength obtained for the specimens AMC-FA and
AMC-AV are 1.775 J/mm2 and 1.8 J/mm2 respectively.

3.5 Wear Test
Wear is a process of removal of material from one or bo th of two solid surfaces when their surfaces are in solid
contact during sliding or rolling under a load. In order to make the best choice of material for a specific application,
it is necessary to know the wear resistance of the material because wear is the main cause of material wastage. In the
present work the AMC-FA and AMC-AV specimens were subjected to dry sliding wear test under dry conditions
using a horizontal pin-on-disc wear tester. Both the test specimen were in the form of cylindrical pins of length
35mm and 6mm in diameter, the rotating disc counterpart was made of EN 31steel (wt% C-1.08, Si-0.25, Mn-0.53%, S-0.015, P-0.022, Ni-0.33, Cr-1.46, Mo-0.06) having a hardness of 60 HRC. The tangential friction force
and wear were monitored with the help of electronic sensors. These two parameters were measured as a function of
load and sliding distance. For each sp ecimen, tests were conducted at 20N nominal load and keeping the sliding
speed fixed at 1250 rpm, wear tests were carried out at room temperature without lubrication
. The photoelectric
balance with an accuracy of ±0.1 mg wa s used to find the mass of the specime ns before and after the experiments.
The wear for the specimens AMC-FA and AMC-AV are obser ved from the wear test are 88 microns and 85 microns
respectively. Therefore no significant chan ge has been witnessed from this test.

3.6 Microscopic Examination

The samples of AMC-FA and AMC-AV were prepared for ex amining their micro structur es using Scanning electron
microscope (SEM). The microstructures of AMC-FA and AMC-AV are depicted in the Fig.1 (a) and Fig.1 (b)
respectively. It is observed from the micrographs that the AV powder particles distributed more uniformly in
aluminium matrix as compared to that of the distribution of FA particles. A good bonding between matrix material
and the particles of aloe vera powder has been observed from the micro graphs.

Fig. 1. (a) Micro structure of AMC-FA Fig. 1. (b) Micro structure of AMC-A V
4. Results and Discussion

The values of mechanical properties of pure aluminium and the results of all the tests carried on AMC-FA and
AMC-AV are summarized in the table 2. It is observed from results, the density of AMC-AV is apparently lower
than the base metal i.e., pure aluminium in comparison with AMC-FA. The AMC-AV al so possesses good strength
to weight ratio. The Fig. 2(a) and Fig.2 (b) shows the stress-strain curves for AMC-FA and AMC-AV respectively.

Ch.Hima Gireesh et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 3289–3297 3295
Table 2. Mechanical properties of pure al uminium and the summary of results of all the tests carried on AMC-FA and AMC-AV

Material Density
(g/cc) Ultimate
tensile
strength
(MPa) Ultimate
yield
strength
(MPa) Impact
strength
(J/mm2) Hardness
(BHN)
Pure
Aluminium 2.70 77.0 10.0 > 0.1 19.0
AMC-FA 2.60 104.21 53.36 1.775 28.2
AMC-AV 2.21 119.83 62.97 1.80 33.8

As the pure aluminium has low strength, its commercial usefulness has been limited. However, the ultimate tensile and yield strengths of AMC-AV are signifi cantly higher than that of pure alumin ium. The stress-strain curves reveal
that the ultimate tensile strength of AMC-AV is higher compared to that of AMC-FA.

Fig. 2. (a) Stress-strain curve for AMC-FA Fig. 2. (b) St ress-strain curve for AMC-AV

From the table 2, it is observed that the impact strength of AMC-AV and AMC-FA was more or less the same. A substantial increase of hardness is observed in AMC-AV as compared to that of AMC-FA. The wear characteristics
for AMC-FA and AMC-AV are shown in Fig.3 and from this graph it is observed that the wear of AMC-AV is considerably less than that of AMC-FA.
Fig.3. Comparison of wear charact eristics for AMC-FA and AMC-AV

5. Conclusion

From this experimental investigation, the following conclusions are drawn
• Aloe vera (AV) is a less dense, abundantly available, low cost eco-friendly materi al which is used in the
present work as reinforcement material for pr eparing aluminium metal matrix composites.
• Aluminium metal matrix composite reinforced with aloe vera powder has been successfully fabricated by
using stir casting process.

3296 Ch.Hima Gireesh et al./ Materials Today: Proceedings 5 (2018) 3289–3297
• There was a good dispersibility of AV powder particle s in aluminium matrix which improves the hardness
of the matrix material and also the tensile behavior of the composite.
• The Brinell hardness number of AMC-AV (33.8) is higher than that of pure aluminium (19.0) and also
higher than that of AMC-FA (28.2).
• The reinforcement of aluminium matrix with fly ash increases the ultimate tensile strength by an amount of
31.44% whereas in the case of reinfo rcement with aloe vera powder increases the ultimate tensile strength
by an amount of 55.62%. The improvement in ultimate tensile strength using aloe vera powder indicates the suitability of AMC-AV for high strength applications.
• The fabrication of AMC-AV involves the addition of reinforcement material (aloe vera) in powder form
instead of ash form and hence the developed composite is eco-friendly material.
• The AMC-AV can be suitably adopted in various fields such as automotive, aerospace, marine etc.

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