Wear behaviour of A356 aluminium alloy reinforced with micron and nano size SiC particles

Abstract

A method for producing metal matrix composites MMC was successfully implemented for mixing nano and low micron (“Hybrid”) sized SiC reinforcing particles in an aluminium alloy matrix. Due to the improved specific modulus and strength, MMC’s are particularly useful in the application of moving engineering parts. Tribology of these components is therefore a critical evaluation towards their service performance. Pin on disc wear behaviour of the fabricated hybrid composites under dry sliding conditions was performed. Mild steel disk was used as the wear counter-face at ambient temperature (~ 25ºC). A significant improvement in wear resistance was achieved for the MMHC. The wear mechanism was evaluated using stereo and scanning electron microscopy and found to be sliding and adhesive type of wear.