Investigation of the effect of Al–5Ti–1B grain refiner on dry sliding wear behavior of an Al–Zn–Mg–Cu alloy formed by strain-induced melt activation process

Abstract

This study was undertaken to investigate the influence of Al–5Ti–1B master alloy and modified strain-induced melt activation process on the structural characteristics, mechanical properties and dry sliding wear behavior of Al–12Zn–3Mg–2.5Cu aluminum alloy. The optimum amount of Ti containing master alloy for proper grain refining was selected as 2wt.%. The alloy was produced by modified strain-induced melt activation (SIMA) process. Reheating condition to obtain a fine globular microstructure was optimized. The optimum temperature and time in strain-induced melt activation process are 575°C and 20min, respectively. T6 heat treatment was applied for all specimens before tensile testing. Significant improvements in mechanical properties were obtained with the addition of grain refiner combined with T6 heat treatment. After the T6 heat treatment, the average tensile strength increased from 283MPa to 587MPa and 252MPa to 564MPa for samples refined with 2wt.% Al–5Ti–1B before and after strain-induced melt activation process, respectively. Dry sliding wear performance of the alloy was examined in normal atmospheric conditions. The experimental results showed that the T6 heat treatment considerably improved the resistance of Al–12Zn–3Mg–2.5Cu aluminum alloy to the dry sliding wear.The results showed that ultimate strength and dry sliding wear performance of globular microstructure specimens was a lower value than that of Ti-refined specimens without strain-induced melt activation process.