The Effect of Electroless Plating on Aluminum Metal Matrix Composite Reinforcement Bottom Ash on the Density and Porosity for Propeller Applications

Abstract

The composite is a combination of two or more different materials with condition of the bonding surface between the two materials. One type of composites that attracts a great attention is metal matrix composites (MMC) . In this study, we investigated the influence of variations of Mg and temperature of oxidation on the density and porosity of the composite reinforcement. This composite underwent to a process of electroless plating with variations (% by weight) of magnesium (0.005, 0.010, and 0.015%) and variations in temperature oxidation (100, 200 and 300 °C) at hold for 3 h, with following processing the composite by stir casting method. Based on the average chart, we show that increasing the value of (% by weight) of magnesium and oxidation temperature (°C), the density values further decrease. This is caused by the imbalance between the weight of magnesium particles moistened (coal bottom ash) during the electroless plating process. Based on the results of testing, the value of the highest density is achieved at a temperature of 300 °C to oxidation at 0.005% Mg and is equal to 2.609 g/cm³. The value of the lowest density is achieved at a temperature of 200 °C to oxidation at 0.010% Mg and is equal to 2.406 g/cm³.