Wear-Resistant Property of SiCp/Al Composites

Abstract

Al alloy reinforced with SiCp (size: 70-220μm) was fabricated by pressureless-infiltration. Its wear resistant property was investigated under different heat-treatment conditions, and morphology of worn surface was examined. The results showed that the composite was integrated, uniform and compact, and its wear resistant property was better than that of the unreinforced matrix alloy. It was indicated that some rigid SiCp in the abraded surface of the composite could support part of loads and replace matrix to wear-tear, which improved the wear resistant property. Compared to annealing, solution aging strengthens Al alloy matrix and cohesion with SiCp, and the wear resistant property of composites was better. Combining interface is also an important factor which influences on wear resistant property. During the wear test, the smaller SiCp size, the more interfaces, there are more SiCp falling off because of loosening combining interface, which results in more wear-tearing value. The wear rate of composite increases with decreasing SiCp size, thus, the composite with larger SiCp has better wear-resistant property than that with smaller SiCp. At last, the wear mechanism of the composite was also studied, and it showed that abrasive wear dominated in the abrasion process.