Journals Proceedings

Abstract

Production of particle reinforced composites is still in the development stage and investigations are in progress to devise techniques to uniformly distribute the reinforcing particles in the matrix so as to get the best properties. The cause of non-uniform distribution is the density difference and non-wetting behavior of the liquid metal and the particles. Random rotation of the mold is used in the present study to distribute redmud particles in an aluminum matrix. Red mud is a waste produced in the production of alumina and unless disposed properly cause environmental problems. A laboratory ball mill used for mineral processing was modified to suit the requirement. The castings were made in the ball mill with the molds rotating randomly. The microstructure of the samples showed uniform distribution of particles in the matrix. Variants in the mold designs tried and microstructures obtained are reported in the paper. It is observed that upto 25% of redmud can be added to aluminium successfully and obtain uniform distribution of the particles.