Study on ultrasonic cavitation based solidification processing and nanoparticle feeding for high volume fabrication of aluminum matrix nanocomposites

Lightweight metal matrix nano-composites (MMNCs) (metal matrix with nano-sized ceramic particles) can be of significance for automobile, aerospace and numerous other applications. It would be advantageous to produce low-cost as-cast bulk lightweight components of aluminum based MMNCs. However, it is extremely difficult to disperse nano-sized ceramic particles uniformly in molten aluminum. In this paper, a high power ultrasonic probe is used to disperse nano-size SiC particles in aluminum alloy A356. Experiment results show that the ultrasonic cavitation based dispersion of naoparticles in molten aluminum alloy is effective. The uniform nano particle dispersion resulted in significantly improved mechanical properties. Various nanopartilce feeding techniques were investigated and experimental results are presented.