An investigation into the wear behaviour of TiB2 particle reinforced aluminium composites produced by mechanical alloying

Abstract

AbstractIn this study, wear behaviour of TiB2 particle reinforced aluminium (Al) composites produced by the mechanical alloying method was investigated. TiB2 ceramic particles of four different volume fractions were mechanically alloyed with Al and A356 alloy matrix materials. The mechanically alloyed particles were cold presses and then sintered at 550°C. After the sintering process, the composites were characterised through hardness measurements, scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Wear tests were also carried out on a pin-on-disc type wear apparatus under 10, 25 and 50 N loads. Wear loss of the composites were found to decrease with increasing hardness which increased with increasing TiB2 particle volume fraction. However, increasing the applied load and sliding distance increased the wear loss. Wear surface examinations showed that various wear mechanisms were effective in wear of the composites.