Physico‐mechanical characterization of garnet and fly ash reinforced Al7075 hybrid composite

The aim of present work was to study the effect of adding garnet and fly ash on the physical and mechanical performance of Al7075 hybrid composites. Al7075 hybrid composites reinforced with varying weight percentage (0 wt.%–15 wt.%) of each of garnet and fly ash were fabricated and characterized for the comparative assessment of their physical and mechanical properties. The physical and mechanical tests such as void content test, hardness test, tensile strength test, impact strength tests, flexural and fracture toughness test were performed for both garnet and fly ash reinforced composites. The finding of results indicated that the addition of 0 wt.%–15 wt.% of garnet increased the void content, hardness, flexural strength, tensile strength, impact strength and fracture toughness in the range of 1.01 %–2.69 %, 33 HRB–88 HRB, 165 MPa–275 MPa, 205 MPa–263 MPa, 12 J–22 J and 0.11 MPa ? m^1/2–0.58 MPa ? m^1/2 at crack length 0.1 respectively whereas addition of 0 wt.%–15 wt.% of fly ash increased the void content, hardness test, flexural strength, tensile strength, impact strength and fracture toughness in the range of 1.010 %–1.351 %, 33 HRB‐80 HRB, 165 MPa–225 MPa, 205 MPa–236 MPa, 12 J–20 J, 0.11 MPa ? m^1/2–0.48 MPa ? m^1/2 at crack length 0.1 respectively. Apart from the economic concern and void issue, Garnet indicated better choice of reinforcement as compared to fly ash in terms of mechanical properties.