Developing and Characterization of Aluminum 6063 Reinforced with Electric Arc Furnace Slag

Abstract

This work aims to fabricate an aluminium composite reinforced with disposal/waste industrial reinforcement slag as a filler material instead of the usual expensive industrial ceramic reinforcements such as SiC, Al2O3, and Ti2O. Optimized processes were performed to produce 6063 aluminium metal matrix composites reinforced with an electric arc furnace with a slag weight percentage of 5 wt.% by a stir casting technique and subsequent hot-rolling. The SEM images show that the EDFS powder was dark grey with irregular and subregular sharp particles. The XRD of EDFS powders reveals the presence of intermetallic compounds. Comparative morphological, hardness and tensile tests were studied, and it was noticed that the strength and hardness of eco-aluminum composite produced using an electric arc furnace slag exhibited comparable strength and hardness results to unreinforced aluminum samples. The microstructure images show low porosity and confirm the presence of particles. The hardness and tensile strength of the composite were enhanced, reaching 71 HV and 162.5 MPa, respectively.