| dc.description.abstract | Aluminum in the form of an alloy is a type of aluminum that is used quite a lot
today. All types of aluminum alloys contain two or more chemical elements that can affect
the mechanical properties of the alloy. In this study, the Al-Cu-Mg-SiC alloy was
subjected to heat treatment in the form of artificial aging to determine the effect on the
mechanical properties of hardness, compression, density, microstructure, and
macrostructure of various artificial aging time variations in powder metallurgy
processes. This research with variations of holding time (2, 4, and 6 hours). Specimens
were made by mixing aluminum, copper, magnesium, and silicon carbide powder with
respective compositions of 93%, 4.5%, 0.5%, and 2% (wt) SiC using a horizontal ball
milling machine for 1 hour. The alloy mixture was put into the mold and compacted with
a pressure of 240 MPa for 15 minutes. The compacted specimens (green compact) were
then sintered at 500 °C for 1 hour. The compressive strength, Vickers hardness, density,
and macrostructure were tested and the microstructure was observed using an optical
microscope. In the test, it was found that there was an increase in the values of density,
hardness (Vickers), and compressive strength along with the increasing artificial aging
time given. The results of the highest density, hardness, and compressive strength values
were at 6 hours of artificial aging with a value of 1.6741 gr/cm3, a hardness value of
48.2 VHN, and a maximum compressive strength value of 119.92 MPa. The
microstructural test shows that the grain boundaries are tighter and the size of the Al
grain diameter is getting bigger. | en_US |
