Abstract
Abstract Improvement in surface properties and retainment of bulk properties are essential requirements for the design of components for wear resistance applications. This paper summarizes various features of Al/SiC/Gr hybrid composites that can be employed in different tribological applications. The study has revealed that the processing route plays a significant role in obtaining a homogeneous structure of these composites. In powder metallurgy, the selection of sizes of the matrix and reinforcement powders is crucial, whereas the wettability between the reinforcement particles and molten alloy is a major challenge in liquid metallurgy. The incorporation of SiC particles increases the mechanical strength and wear performance of Al composites. However, ejection of these particles can reduce the wear performance of Al composites under severe conditions. The addition of Gr particles helps in the formation of a thick and extensive tribolayer on the wear surface. This layer reduces direct contact between the rubbing surfaces, thereby decreasing the wear rate under certain conditions. Morphological analysis of worn surfaces has confirmed that the hybrid composites exhibit superior wear properties than the pure Al alloy and the ceramic-reinforced composite. However, increase in the Gr content beyond a limiting value can deteriorate the tribological properties of these composites. Therefore, true optimization of a tribosystem (of the hybrid composite and counterface) can be achieved by selecting appropriate reinforcement contents.
Highlights
Aluminium (Al) and its alloys have potential applications in various automotive components because of the excellent combination of properties, such as high strength to weight ratio, good thermal conductivity, and high corrosion resistance [1, 2]
One of the major drawbacks of these materials is their low wear resistance. This limitation is due to the fact that Al alloys undergo extensive plastic deformation and material removal under sliding wear conditions [3,4,5,6,7]
The reinforcement (SiC and Gr) particles were uniformly distributed within the matrix alloy, thereby showing that In-situ powder metallurgy (IPM) could be used for the production of Al composites with improved properties and reduced particle clusters
Summary
Aluminium (Al) and its alloys have potential applications in various automotive components because of the excellent combination of properties, such as high strength to weight ratio, good thermal conductivity, and high corrosion resistance [1, 2]. As the hard reinforcements (asperities) are removed under severe sliding conditions, the wear resistance of these composites is reduced. At high values of normal load and sliding speed, the localized melt and slip and the large plastic deformations (caused by the high frictional heat) are the dominant factors contributing to the removal of surface film from the wear surface The removal of this surface film will increase the wear rate of hybrid Al composites under these conditions [35,36,37].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
