Design and Property Enhancement of Aluminum Metal Matrix Composites (AMMC’s) to Match Specific Areas of Application - A Review

Abstract

The necessity for the design of efficient load bearing materials together with superior directional properties, high specific strength and stiffness that can be tailored for specific applications where monolithic materials and conventional alloys can’t be used has given impetus to the development of modern composites. The development of composite technology spanning several decades has given rise to an exotic class of materials whose characteristics could be tailored for specific applications to enhance mechanical and other properties besides incorporating easy machinability by conventional machining methods using conventional tools. This paper deals with the charting of a strategy for the application of aluminum metal matrix composites citing the specific reasons for selecting the particular material system pertinent to its functionality as a worthy candidate meriting its applications. A brief review of the modern composites is followed by a general discussion and the logical choice of a particular material system that has gained wide acceptance. With this knowledge as the basis, the materials engineer is well placed to create
innovative designs that are having vast improvement over its predecessor designs and achieve not only fast effective gains, but also material enhanced properties