The mechanical properties and abrasive wear behavior of functionally graded aluminum/AlB2 composites produced by centrifugal casting

Abstract

ABSTRACTFunctionally graded aluminum composites reinforced with different average sized (15, 44, and 74 µm) aluminum diboride (AlB2) particles (10 wt%) have been fabricated through centrifugal casting process. The outer, middle, and inner surfaces of all the functionally graded composites were tested for their microhardness using a Vicker's hardness tester. The outer and inner zones of all the composites were investigated for their tensile strength using a universal testing machine. The abrasive wear test was conducted using dry abrasion tester on the outer region of the composites based on Taguchi's design of experiments, under the influence of parameters such as load, speed, and reinforcement size. The analysis of variance was performed and determined that load has major significance on the wear rate followed by reinforcement size and speed. Scanning electron microscopy analysis was performed on the worn-out surfaces and it was observed that outer surface of coarser particle reinforced composite with lesser scratches and minimum loss of material.