**4. Sintering process**

The compacted specimens are sintered at a temperature of 472 degrees centigrade in muffle furnace depicted in **Figure 6**. The sintering process is mainly developed to

**Figure 3.** *Microbalance weighing of green-compacted FGM specimens.*

### **Figure 4.**

*Sectional views (front and side) of the dry-compacted specimen.*

*Experimentation and Optimization of Multilayered Aluminum-Based Functionally Graded… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.107284*

#### **Figure 5.**

*Compaction testing machine for the preparation of green compact FGM.*

#### **Figure 6.**

*Sintering process of green-compacted FGM in high tubular furnace.*

increase the hardness of the green compacts as they are in very low strength and cannot be used for the material testing and also to enhance the hardness of the component. It is taken to be 70% of the melting temperature of the pure aluminum melting point (673 degree centigrade) [9].
