Interfacial Bonding and Abrasive Wear Behavior of Iron Matrix Composite Reinforced by Ceramic Particles.

Yefei Li,Juan Wang,Qiaoling Zheng,Cong Li,Shuli Tang,Zhicheng Wang,Zhibo Zhang

doi:10.3390/ma12223646

Abstract

Using zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA) particles and Ni–Ti complex powders as raw materials, high-Cr cast iron reinforced by ZTA particles was prepared by an infiltration casting process. A continuous transition layer formed at the interface between ZTA particles and the Cr15 matrix, which proves that there is strong metallurgical interfacial bonding at the interface. The phases in the Ni–Ti layer of the ZTAP/Fe composite were preserved compared with the microstructure of sintered ZTA ceramic preform. The hardness of the Ni3Ti, TiO and AlNi2Ti phases in the interfacial transition layer was measured by the nano-indentation method, which is 12.5 GPa, 16.1 GPa and 9.2 GPa, respectively. The three-body wear resistance of the composite reached 12.6 times that of high-Cr cast iron.

Highlights

Hard ceramics have high hardness, advanced temperature stability, desirable stiffness and favorable corrosion resistance, which means they are widely used as cutting tools, wear resistant parts, aircraft components, etc. [1,2,3,4]
(ii) The slurry was prepared by dispersing the Ni–Ti powder mixture homogeneously in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution by a constant-temperature magnetic agitator; PVA solution was feasible as slurry for various powders, such as Ti, Al, Fe, Ni, etc., because powders in PVA solution have excellent dispersibility and good stickiness [25,26,27,28]. (iii) The mesh with zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA) particles inside was dipped into the slurry. (iv) The mesh with ZTA particles inside was taken out of the slurry and dried in a vacuum drying oven at 100 ◦ C. (v) Procedures (iii) and (iv) were repeated several times so that the coatings on the particles could be obtained
It can be seen that the coating area of Ni–Ti powders on ZTA particles increased with the coating times, turning from bright to dark; both the weight of coated particles and the thickness of surface coating increased linearly with increasing coating time

Summary

Introduction

Hard ceramics have high hardness, advanced temperature stability, desirable stiffness and favorable corrosion resistance, which means they are widely used as cutting tools, wear resistant parts, aircraft components, etc. [1,2,3,4]. Hard ceramics are extensively used as reinforcement for fabrication of particles reinforced iron matrix composites (PRIMCs). PRIMCs are of great industrial importance because the iron matrix is inexpensive, and because the particles demonstrate superior properties of high elastic modulus, superior hardness and wear resistance [5,6,7,8]. Among many PRIMCs, ZTAP /Fe composites have become a kind of promising wear resistant material, mainly because of the outstanding thermal physical and mechanical properties of ZTA ceramics [5]. The difference in thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) between ZTA ceramic (7.8–20 × 10−6 ◦ C−1 [5,14]) and iron matrix (9.2–16.9 × 10−6 ◦ C−1 [15]) is lower than other hard ceramics, such as WC (3.8 × 10−6 ◦ C−1 [5]), α-Al2 O3 (6.4–7.5 × 10−6 ◦ C−1 [16]), α-SiO2 (0.5–4.1 × 10−6 ◦ C−1 [17]) and SiC (4.1–4.6 × 10−6 ◦ C−1 [18])

Methods

Results

Conclusion