An investigation into the wear behaviour of TiB ₂ particle reinforced aluminium composites produced by mechanical alloying

Abstract

Abstract In this study, wear behaviour of TiB 2 particle reinforced aluminium (Al) composites produced by the mechanical alloying method was investigated. TiB 2 ceramic particles of four different volume fractions were mechanically alloyed with Al and A356 alloy matrix materials. The mechanically alloyed particles were cold presses and then sintered at 550°C. After the sintering process, the composites were characterised through hardness measurements, scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Wear tests were also carried out on a pin-on-disc type wear apparatus under 10, 25 and 50 N loads. Wear loss of the composites were found to decrease with increasing hardness which increased with increasing TiB 2 particle volume fraction. However, increasing the applied load and sliding distance increased the wear loss. Wear surface examinations showed that various wear mechanisms were effective in wear of the composites.