ENP SIC Coating

Aluminum -SiC metal matrix composites were fabricated by using liquid metallurgy route. To improve the interfacial bonding between the Al and SiC, an attempt has been made to coat the SiC particles with Nickel. Electroless process was used for coating the reinforced particle. This surface hardness modification due to electroless coating on SiC particles was confirmed with Microhardness Tester. Processing parameters such as temperature, bath concentration, time, and reheating temperature were optimized. SiC content in Al-SiC MMC were taken from 10 to 30 % and effect of Ni coating was studied using hardness measurements. Influence of coated SiC particles in Al-SiC showed significant improvement in hardness values. As a result, the hardness values of Al-SiC (Ni) exhibited better hardness values as compared to Al-ENP. As expected, high SiC content in types of Al-SiC MMCs showed high hardness values as compared to low SiC content and base alloy. The present investigation suggests that ENP SIC coating on Al material are more suitable as compared to ENP coating on Al material.