Influence of cenospheres of fly ash on the mechanical properties and wear of permanent moulded eutectic Al-Si alloys

In recent years, aluminium matrix composites reinforced with ceramic particulates have attracted considerable interest due to their inherent good mechanical properties and low cost. In this investigation, composites have been produced with cenospheres of fly ash as a reinforcement material and eutectic Al-Si alloy as a matrix. Stir casting route has been adopted to disperse cenospheres of fly ash (from 1% to 10%) in the Al-Si alloy matrix. The results indicate that with increase the content of fly ash, hardness and ultimate tensile strength increase by 34.7% and 44.3% respectively, while the density decreases by 13.2%. The wear loss decreases by 33% at the highest sliding distance. However, percentage elongation showed only a marginal decrease for various percentages of fly ash studied in this investigation.