Mechanical Properties and Wear Resistance of PM Composite Materials Reinforced with the Halloysite Particles

Abstract

The purpose of this work is the development of the aluminium alloy matrix composite materials using powder metallurgy technologies, including mechanical alloying and hot extrusion with the required properties and structure of the designed material. In this work halloysite nanotubes, was used as alternative reinforcement of metal matrix composites. Halloysite is a clayey mineral of volcanic origin, characterised by high porosity, high ion exchange, large specific surface and easy chemical, as well as mechanical treatment. High energy ball milling leads to uniform distribution of the halloysite reinforcing particles throughout the AlMg1SiCu matrix and simultaneously reduces the particle size. Proved microstructural changes influence the mechanical properties, especially microhardness, and compression yield, as well as wear resistant. The tribological analysis reveals that composite materials – irrespective of the measuring cycles number and load – are characterised by much smaller wear volume in comparison to the matrix material. The MMCs obtained as a result of mechanical alloying, cold compacting and hot extrusion are characterised with the microstructure of homogeneous distribution of halloysite particles in fine-grain matrix of AlMg1SiCu alloy, facilitate the obtainment of higher values of mechanical properties, compared to the base alloy. The composite materials reinforced with nanoparticles with 15% mass share are characterised by more than 180% higher yield strength and almost twice as higher microhardness compared to the matrix material. The analysis of the investigation results has confirmed that halloysite nanotubes can be applied as effective reinforcement in the MMCs.