Fabrication of Cu-Sn/SiC Metal Matrix Composites and Investigation of its Mechanical and Dry Sliding Wear Properties

Abstract

Requisite for advanced materials with high hardness, high tensile strength and improved wear properties has been drastically increased in recent times. The main objective of this paper is to fabricate unreinforced copper alloy and Cu-Sn/SiC composite with varying wt% of SiC (5, 10, and 15) by liquid metallurgy route and to investigate its microstructure, mechanical properties and dry sliding wear behavior. The hardness and tensile strength of alloy and composites are measured on Vickers micro hardness tester and Universal Testing Machine respectively. Tensile test specimens are further subjected to fractography analysis and the results shows ductile mode of failure for alloy and mixed ductile and brittle mode failure for composites. Based on the test results, it is observed that Cu-Sn/10 wt% of SiC have uniform distribution of particles with optimum mechanical properties. Hence only these 10 wt% SiC composite is considered for dry sliding wear analysis and experiments are conducted using Pin-on-disc tribometer. Analysis of process parameters in three levels such as applied load (15,25,35 N), sliding distance (750,1250,1750 m) and sliding velocity (1,2 and 3 m/s) is done by Taguchi’s Design of Experiments technique based on L₂₇ orthogonal array. From Signal-to-Noise ratio and Analysis of Variance approach, the rank of process parameters as well as its influence on the response is found. The results reveal that the wear rate increases as applied load and sliding distance increases and the wear rate decreases as sliding velocity increases. The load is found to have the highest influence on wear rate (38.5%) followed by sliding distance (7%) and sliding velocity (7%). Interaction between the process parameters also contributed towards wear rate. The worn surfaces were examined using Scanning Electron Microscopy and observed the formation of mechanically mixed layer at high velocity condition. Thus, the fabricated composites can be used in applications like bearings and bushes to improve the wear resistance.