Abstract
The current trend in the materials engineering sector is to develop newer materials that can replace the existing materials in various engineering sectors in order to be more and more efficient. Therefore, the present research work is aimed at fabricating and determining the physical, mechanical, and dry sliding wear properties of titanium carbide (TiC)-reinforced aluminum alloy (Al6061) metal matrix composites (MMCs). For the study, the Al6061-TiC microparticle-reinforced composites were fabricated via the liquid metallurgy route through the stir casting method, where the reinforcement of the TiC particles into the Al6061 alloy matrix was added in the range of 0 to 8.0 wt.%, i.e., in the steps of 2.0 wt.%. The synthesis procedure followed the investigation of the various mechanical properties of Al6061-TiC MMCs, such as the density and structure, as well as mechanical and dry wear experimentation. The tests performed on the casted Al6061, as well as its TiC composites, were in harmony with ASTM standards. As per the experimental outcome, it can be confirmed that the increase in the weight percentage of TiC into the Al6061 alloy substantially increases the density, hardness, and tensile strength, at the expense of the percentage of elongation. In addition, the dry wear experiments, performed on a pin-on-disc tribometer, showed that the Al6061-TiC MMCs have superior wear-resistance properties, as compared to those of pure Al6061 alloy. Furthermore, optical micrograph (OM), powdered X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were employed for the developed Al6061-TiC MMCs before and after the fracture and wear test studies. From the overall analysis of the results, it can be observed that the Al6061-TiC composite material with higher TiC reinforcement displays superior mechanical characteristics.
Highlights
In the cutting-edge field of material science and technology research, there are always efforts made for the search and development of newer materials, which has always been considered to be the biggest challenge
As composite materials filled with particulate reinforcement have shown resistance indentation and are largely used in automobile applications, such as cylinder blocks, vibrators, impellers, pistons, calipers, microwave channels, etc., [4], aluminum (Al) alloys are more extensively used in the marine, aerospace, and mineral industries because of their superior mechanical and thermal properties [5]
It has been clearly observed that the temperature has a significant effect on the wear rate (WR) of composite Al6061-silicon carbide (SiC), and it has been shown that this particular property is reduced with an increase in the applied load [13]
Summary
In the cutting-edge field of material science and technology research, there are always efforts made for the search and development of newer materials, which has always been considered to be the biggest challenge. It has been clearly observed that the temperature has a significant effect on the wear rate (WR) of composite Al6061-silicon carbide (SiC), and it has been shown that this particular property is reduced with an increase in the applied load [13]. As a consequence of their outstanding wear resistance, high strength-to-weight ratios, and superior mechanical characteristics, Al-TiC composites have a distinctive place in the family of ceramic-reinforced MMCs. The quantity and uniform dispersion of the TiC particles in Al-TiC composites are dependent on the development of such characteristics [23,24]. We analyzed the effects of different compositions of TiC reinforcements on the density, microstructure, mechanical (tensile strength, hardness, and percentage elongation), and wear properties of an Al6061 matrix alloy
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