Analysis of Coefficient of Thermal Expansion and Thermal Conductivity of Bi-Modal SiC/A356 Composites Fabricated via Powder Metallurgy Route
The present study investigates the thermal conductivity and coefficient of thermal expansion of bimodal SiCp reinforced Aluminum matrix composites formed via powder metallurgy method. The after-effects of proportion of particulate reinforcement as size distribution and sintering parameters on the thermal properties have been explored. The Box-Behnken design for response surface methodology was adopted to recognize the significance of chosen variables on the thermal conductivity and coefficient of thermal expansion of the composite. It is witnessed that the thermal conductivity and coefficient of thermal expansion enhanced due to increase in fine SiC particulates volume fraction. It has been exhibited that the fine SiC particulates (37μm) doped Al-matrix occupied interstitial positions and developed continuous SiC-matrix network. SEMs were conducted to evaluate the microstructure architecture for MMCs.