Effect of Angle of Impingement on Air Jet Erosion Wear Behavior of Chill Cast Aluminum-Boron Carbide Composites

Abstract

In the present investigation, the effect of angle of impingement on the air jet erosion wear behavior of chill cast aluminum boron carbide composites have been studied under room temperature. Stir casting technique was employed for the development of the composites. Metallic materials like stainless steel, cast iron and copper with various thermal conductivities are used as end chills. The erodent material used was silica sand of 312 microns. All the tests were conducted with the erodent silica sand particles of grain size 312 µm at a standoff distance of 20 mm with a testing time of 5 minutes for 15°, 30°, 45° and 60° angles of impingement. The worn surface analysis was carried using scanning electron microscope to examine the mechanism of material removal process. From the obtained results, it is noticed that the weight loss of the samples increases with the increase in angle of impingement up to 45° and then decreases with further increase in the angle of impingement for a given standoff distance and testing time. However, for all the composite samples studied, the copper chill cast Al-B4C composites exhibit greater erosive wear resistance than the cast iron and stainless steel chill cast composites.