Tribological behaviors of nanotwinned Al alloys

Wear-induced damages cause significant materials loss each year. Al alloys are widely used by industry but usually have low wear resistance. Here, we compare the tribological behaviors of ultrafine grained Al, a nano -precipitate hardened Al 7075 alloy and nanotwinned Al-Ni alloys using the nanoscratch. The nanotwinned Al-Ni alloys exhibit lower coefficient of friction and much greater wear resistance than the Al and Al 7075 alloys. The enhanced wear properties of Al-Ni alloys arise from their high strength and the evolution of nanotwinned mi-crostructures into gradient nanograins during wear. These findings on fundamental wear mechanisms in nano -twinned alloys may advance the discovery of wear-resistant metallic materials.

Automated summary

Wear-induced damages result in significant materials loss annually. Aluminum alloys are commonly used in industry but have low wear resistance. In this study, the tribological behaviors of different aluminum alloys were compared using nanoscratch, and it was found that nanotwinned Al-Ni alloys exhibited lower coefficient of friction and higher wear resistance. The enhanced wear properties of Al-Ni alloys were attributed to their high strength and the evolution of nanotwinned microstructures into gradient nanograins.