Tribological study of Al-6063-based metal matrix embedded with SiC–Al2O3–TiO2 particles

Abstract

Aluminium-based metal matrix composites play a significant role in the field of aerospace, automobile, structural, and military applications due to their enhanced mechanical and tribological properties that contrasted to monolithic materials. Severe metal service conditions, such as cutting, grinding, and drilling and demand tribological and mechanical properties, must be improved. Metal matrix composites (MMCs) reinforced with filler particles are covenant materials for rectifying these issues. This study experimentally investigated the effect of normal load and sliding velocity on the friction and wear properties of Al-6063-based MMC embedded with filler particles. Experiments were conducted under normal loads of 5 N, 7.5 N, and 10 N and velocities of 0.5 m/s, 1 m/s, and 1.5 m/s. The experimental results revealed controlling friction and wear rate of aluminium-based MMC. The friction coefficient and wear resistance were improved by the aluminium-based MMC. The morphology of the metal matrix composites was analysed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDS). The applied load, sliding velocity, SiC, Al 2 O 3 , and TiO 2 significantly affect the friction coefficient and wear loss. Chemical properties were investigated through Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, and the peak values were identified. The analysis can be used to predict the tribological properties of Al-6063 MMC in engineering applications.

Friction and wear characteristics of ceramics composite under multidirectional motions

“…This is because an oxide layer is formed on the surface because of increased surface temperature and this layer yields self-lubricating action and reduces friction. 3 Friction coefficient for 0.25 m/s pin motion shows the maximum friction coefficient at pin before diffusion which is 0.288 as seen in Figure 2(a). In contrast, the lowest amount of friction coefficient is found to be 0.268 at 0.15 m/s pin motion after diffusion.…”

“…This is because of increased temperature at the friction surfaces of two materials because of the heat generation of the asperities which is because of the sliding contact of two materials. 3,42 Moreover, this phenomena is because of deformation of friction and large adhesion of friction as friction coefficient increases with the increase of normal force. 43,44 High temperature causes the softening of materials.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that oxide layers have influenced self-lubrication and they observed a similar phenomenon. 3,60,61…”

“…Ceramic-based composite materials have been widely used in engineering applications because of their enormous potential even under extreme environments and showed excellent mechanical and thermal properties such as corrosion resistance, high-temperature resistance, wear resistance, high hardness, low creep rate, and high strength. 1–5…”

Effect of reinforcements on graphite/titania/aluminium nanohybrid composites

“…The most widely used reinforcements are silicon carbide (SiC) and Al oxide (Al 2 O 3 ) because these reinforcements improve the hardness, mechanical strength, wear resistance and density of Al and its alloys. 1,5–8 The main advantages of the particle-reinforced Al matrix composites (AMCs) are as follows: the wear properties can be controlled, the creep behaviour tendency gets lower and so on. 9 These composites are used as abrasive in high-speed machining tools and as heat shields in the aerospace applications.…”