The sliding wear behavior of Al6061-garnet particulate composites

An attempt has been made to investigate the tribological behavior of Al6061-garnet particulate reinforced composites prepared by liquid metallurgical technique. A pin on disc wear testing machine was used to carry out the tribological tests on both composites and matrix alloy over a load range of 10-50 N and sliding velocities of 1.25-3.05 m/s for various sliding distances of 0.5-3 km. A theoretical model was developed for estimating the sliding wear-rate taking into consideration the effect of frictional heat on the wear properties at contact surfaces, the effect of reinforcement, mechanical-load, sliding distance, sliding velocities on wear-rates, coefficient of friction, and transition wear. An addition of garnet particulate to Al6061 showed that it not only delays the transition wear but also reduces the wear-rate and coefficient of friction. The SEM and EDS analyses were undertaken to clarify the effect of garnet particles on the wear mechanism for each condition. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.