Investigation of solid particle erosion behavior of Al-Al2O3 and Al-ZrO2 metal matrix composites fabricated through powder metallurgy technique

Abstract

The proposed research article presents an experimental investigation of solid particle erosion wear of Al2O3 and ZrO2 ceramic oxide reinforced metal matrix composite developed via powder metallurgy method. Two different kinds of metal matrix composites, Al-Al2O3 and Al-ZrO2 were developed with different proportions (0, 2.5, 5 and 10 wt%) of micro-sized ceramic oxide reinforcement powders. Vickers Hardness (HV), experimental densities of sintered samples, XRD and EDS were evaluated for mechanical characterization of fabricated metal matrix composites. Solid particle erosion wear tests were carried out at impingement angles 30–90° at varying set impact velocities of 30–90 m/s on air-jet erosion wear test rig using tiny micro-sized Al2O3 powders as an erodent. Air–jet erosion experiments were conducted as per the G76 standard for study of the steady-state erosion wear. ANOVA test revealed that wt% of reinforced contents was a significant parameter followed by impact velocity. 5 wt% of ZrO2 was observed to be the best wt% of reinforcement of all the combination of fabricated composites.