Reciprocating dry sliding wear behaviour of BN@MXene@AA7075 composites

Abstract

Aluminium alloys are preferred in various fields, especially in the aviation and automotive sectors, due to their lightweight and durable nature. However, their usage is limited due to weak tribological properties such as low hardness and high adhesion tendency against steel. In order to overcome this deficiency, this study aimed to develop AA7075 matrix composites reinforced with BN and MXene. The productions were conducted by powder metallurgy method with these reinforcements in different ratios, both together and separately. The produced composites were characterized primarily by XRD and SEM analyses, followed by measurement of density and porosity values. Wear tests were conducted using the reciprocating ball-on-flat method, at a frequency of 3 Hz, a sliding distance of 100 m, and a stroke distance of 5 mm, with Inox steel ball. The highest improvement in wear rate was realized under 5 N load at 5 wt.% reinforcement ratios of 48% and 42% for BN and MXene, respectively. When 2 wt% BN and MXene reinforcements were applied together, the improvement rate remained around 34%. It can be said that BN and MXene show promising results by providing significant improvements compared to their counterparts in the literature, with MXene especially warranting further investigation.