Wear and corrosion behaviour on pure aluminium matrix reinforced with SiC and spent catalyst by using the stir casting method

Abstract

For this research, wear and corrosion effects of a pure aluminium composite matrix reinforced with SiC and Spent catalyst were investigated. Pure aluminium reinforced with a specific weight percentage 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10% of 40 μm of spent catalyst particle size and 20 μm of SiC particle size with a stir casting process. The wear and corrosion rate was determined by using pin-on-disk and salt spray systems. In pin-on-disk, the sliding wear test with a uniform load of 10 N and constant sliding velocity 5 m/s were conducted for 10 min. Corrosion monitoring was conducted for 100 h in a salt spray bath. Wear loss with a uniform load of 10 N that was applied for both the metal matrix and the reinforced composites, and respective weight loss of composites was noted. Wear track of composite morphological characterization was done using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Better wear and corrosion values have been obtained at 10 wt% silicon carbide and 10 wt% spent catalyst respectively. The result indicates that enhanced composites exhibit superior wear and corrosion compared to pure aluminium.