Effect of SiC particles on thermal conductivity of Al-4%Cu/SiC composites

In this research, SiC powder with various volume fraction (10, 15, and 20%) and particle size (45, 100 and 150 mu m) was mixed with Al-4% Cu alloy powder in order to synthesize Al-4%Cu/SiC composite using powder metallurgy technique. To investigate the microstructure and surface morphology of the prepared composites, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used, which revealed a homogeneous distribution of the SiC particles in the matrix. Results revealed that by increasing the volume fraction and SiC particle size, heat transmission of the Al-4%Cu/SiC nanocomposite enhanced up to 10.3%. Also, Hasselman-Johnson model was employed to analyse the experimental results, and it was concluded that with the increasing of volume fraction of reinforcement particles, the prediction model gets closer to the obtained experimental data.