Strengthening of mechanical and tribological properties of Al-4.5% Cu matrix alloy with the addition of bamboo leaf ash

The objective of this research paper is to introduce an economically identified bamboo leaf ash, extruded from agro waste as effective reinforcement in the development of Aluminium alloy based composite. In the current study, stir casting process was used to fabricate composites by introducing 0, 2, 4 and 6 wt% of bamboo leaf ash into Al-4.5%Cu matrix. The fabricated composites were characterized using optical microscopy, SEM with EDAX, XRD, density, hardness, tensile testing and dry sliding wear tests. It has been observed that the bamboo leaf ash particles were uniformly distributed throughout the matrix. The density of the fabricated composites decreased with the addition of bamboo leaf ash particles and, hardness and tensile strength improved significantly. The wear rate of the composites was decreased with the addition of BLA particles in comparison with Al-4.5%Cu matrix alloy and at 4 wt% of BLA consisting composite exhibited best anti-wear property. The increase in dislocation density with increase in weight percent of BLA may be the reason for the strengthening of the composites. Tensile Failure and wear mechanism were analyzed by SEM images of tensile fracture surface and worn out surface morphologies of composites.