Experimental investigation and optimization of mechanical metallurgical and tribological behaviour of hybrid aa7050 metal matrix composites reinforced with Zrb2 al2o3 mwcnts for aircraft wing spar applications

Abstract

In the present aerospace industries, composite materials play a significant role with their superior properties over metals and monolithic materials. The automobile and aerospace industries are currently facing significant issues in designing new products with less weight and have a high strength-to-weight ratio, thereby reducing fuel consumption and environmental emissions as accomplished by lightweight metal matrix composites. Nowadays, Aluminium, magnesium, Copper, superalloys and titanium are commonly used matrix materials. Among these matrix materials, aluminium-based metal matrix composites are widely applied in Aerospace and various industrial applications due to their lightweight and low cost. newlineTherefore, in this work, AA7050-T7451 aluminium alloy is chosen as matrix material due to its wide application in the aerospace industry, especially in the aircraft wing spar application. From the literature review, it is identified that many failures were reported for AA7050 when subjected to an aircraft wing spar application and wear environment. Therefore, in this work, an attempt has been made to improve the mechanical, metallurgical and wear properties of AA7050 alloy by reinforcing it with suitable ceramic and solid lubricant materials. Few researchers reported that Al2O3, ZrB2 and Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube (MWCNT) would enhance the mechanical and wear behaviour of various matrix materials. Hence, in this work, Al2O3 and ZrB2 are selected as ceramic reinforcement and solid lubricant; MWCNT was also selected for reinforcing with an AA7050 matrix material to fabricate different types of hybrid composites newline