Carbon fiber reinforced aluminium composites are significantly used in lightweight applications.
Powder metallurgy is considered one of the most commonly used methods in manufacturing metal matrix
composites due to its low cost and high versatility. The effect of carbon fiber weight fractions and sintering
temperatures on the sintered density and microhardness of composites were studied. The percentages of weight
fraction of reinforcement were (10wt. %, 20wt. %, and 30wt. %) while the sintering temperatures were
(530℃,560℃, and 590℃). The microstructure of composites indicated that CF distributed uniformly in the Al
matrix, while EDX results confirmed the absence of harmful intermediate phases. Regression analysis was used
to estimate the studied properties of composites with six samples for validation. Results showed that the density
and hardness of composites decreased with an increase in carbon fiber percentage. According to the analysis of
variance (ANOVA), the sintering temperature had a higher influence than the weight fraction of reinforcement in
analyzed properties. |
