A Comparative Assessment on Microstructure, Mechanical and Tribological Behaviour of Light Aluminium-Trialuminide Composites

Al-Mg alloy consisting of Mg is an important lightweight material and could be considered as a matrix material for fabricating the composites. In the present study, different trialuminides of Zr and Ti have been prepared separately in the lightweight Al alloy via direct melt reaction route, and comparative studies have been performed in terms of microstructure, mechanical and tribological properties. The results indicate that different trialuminides are successfully generated in the Al alloy with uniform distribution and refined the grains of alpha-aluminium with different extents. The trialuminide improves the strength, ductility, hardness and anti-wear life of the Al alloy, but the improvement is more in composite with trialuminide of Ti than other. Other parameters such as surface roughness and maximum wear depth are also correlated with wear test parameters and materials. They increase with sliding distance and applied load, while with trialuminide, they decrease. However, the minimum value of surface roughness and wear depth is observed in the composite with trialuminide of Ti. This study provides an insight about the selection of suitable trialuminide as reinforcement for the Al-Mg alloy to give away an appropriate product for automobile and aerospace applications.

Automated summary

In this study, different trialuminides were prepared via direct melt reaction route and their effects on the microstructure, mechanical and tribological properties of the Al-Mg alloy were investigated. The results showed that the trialuminides improved the strength, ductility, hardness and anti-wear life of the alloy, with the trialuminide of Ti exhibiting the best performance. Additionally, the trialuminides reduced the surface roughness and wear depth, with the composite containing the trialuminide of Ti having the lowest values.