Volume 6 Issue 4 ( December 2019 )

Present investigation agreements with the influence of reinforcement on hardness properties of eggshell reinforced AA2014 composite material. Aluminium based composite materials reinforced with eggshell were prepared by electromagnetic stir casting technique (EMS). Experiments were conducted by using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Uncarbonized eggshell weight percentage, stirring time, matrix pouring temperature, preheat temperature, and stirring current were the selected process parameters. The maximum hardness of AA 2014/eggshell composite are achieved 86.4865 BHN at optimum levels of process parameters i.e. reinforcement weight percentage of 12.5 %, preheat temperature of 600°C, stir time of 3 minutes, matrix pouring temperature at 700 °C, and stirring current of 12 A. Results depicted that uncarbonized eggshell content in AA 2014 alloy had improved the hardness. Confirmation experiment was conducted to verify the result of hardness. It was observed that at optimum level of stir casting method parameter, tensile Strength was also improved. Owing to strengthening of uncarbonized eggshell in AA 2014 alloy, hardness and tensile strength properties was improved by 33.33% and 37.83% respectively.

Keywords: Eggshell, hardness, tensile strength, stirring current, matrix pouring temperature