Wear behavior of Al-Mg-Cu-based composites containing SiC particles

The friction and wear behavior of Al-Mg-Cu alloys and Al-Mg-Cu-based composites containing SiC particles were investigated at room conditions at a pressure of 3.18 MPa and a sliding speed of 0.393 m/s using a pin-on-disk wear testing machine. This study is an attempt to investigate the effects of adding copper as alloying element and silicon carbide as reinforcement particles to Al-4 wt% Mg metal matrix. The wear loss of the copper containing alloys was less than that for the copper free alloys. It was observed that the volume losses in wear test of Al-Mg-Cu alloy decrease continuously up to 5%. Also it was found that the silicon carbide particles play a significant role in improving wear resistance of the Al-Mg-Cu alloying system. The formation of mechanically mixed layer (MML) due to the transfer of Fe from counterface disk to the pin was observed in both Al-Mg-Cu alloys and Al-Mg-Cu/SiC composites. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.