A Study on the Tribological Properties of Al-AlN-Y2W3O12 Hybrid Composites

Abstract

The effect of the amount of reinforcements, load, sliding distance and sliding speed on the wear properties of aluminum matrix hybrid composites (AMHCs) reinforced with yttrium tungstate (Y2W3O12) and aluminum nitride (AlN) has been investigated. The hardness and wear resistance of the composites improve with the increasing amount of AlN and Y2W3O12. The wear resistance increases with a decrease in the load and an increase in the sliding distance. The AMHCs exhibit the formation of a stable mechanically mixed layer along with fine grooves and oxides under mild conditions (low load, high sliding distance and low sliding speed) resulting in relatively low wear rate and coefficient of friction (COF). However, under severe conditions (high load, low sliding distance and high sliding speed), the formation of larger grooves along with heavy delamination increases the wear rate and COF. Response surface methodology is used to correlate the experimental values with the predicted values. The results show that the load and amount of reinforcement are significantly affecting the wear rate and COF.