Experimental Studies on Mechanical and Wear Behaviour of TiC Reinforced Cu-Sn-Ni Functionally Graded Composite

Abstract

This research aims to fabricate Cu-10Sn-5Ni /10wt%TiC functionally graded composite (Øout100 X Øin70 X 100 mm) through horizontal centrifuge cast technique and to study its tribo-mechanical characteristics. Microstructural observation revealed higher percentile of reinforcement particles at inner wall zone compared to middle and outer zones. Vicker’s micro hardness tests revealed proportional increase of hardness along the radial wall towards inner periphery. Inner (7-15 mm) zone had higher tensile strength (291 MPa) compared to outer (1-7 mm) zone (236 MPa). Non-lubricated tribology experiments were performed at inner, middle and outer region of composite using pin-on-disc tribometer under a wide range of loads, sliding distances and sliding velocities. From the wear experiment results, it was observed that inner region had minimal wear due to rich particle presence. Scanning Electron Microscopy on worn specimen at low and high wear parametric conditions exhibited features like delamination, ploughing, micro cutting, particle pull-out, plastic deformation with flaky wear debris and thin film formation.

Keywords

• copper functionally grade composite
• grain nucleation
• tribolayer
• non-lubricated tribology
• fractography
• tribo-mechanism