A Study on the Physical and Morphological Characteristics of Aluminum Cenosphere Composite Sintered at High Temperature in Microwave

Aluminium Metal matrix Composites (AMC) have been fabricated through powder metallurgy route comprising of Aluminum as matrix and reinforced with Cenosphere, a low density material in the form of hollow and porous spheres. The densification of the composite has been carried out in an advanced processing technique called the microwave sintering,which is rapid and economical. AMC with Cenosphere addition of 40 volume % has been prepared and sintered at various temperatures. The sintered composites have been studied for the mineralogical phases by XRD, morphology by SEM and physical properties such as Density, Apparent Porosity and Hardness (BHN). The results obtained have been compared with AMCs that were sintered conventionally. The microwave sintered samples showed better properties in terms of Porosity, Bulk Density and Brinell hardness values compared to the conventionally sintered ones.