Wear behavior of aluminum LM4 reinforced with WC and TA/NbC hybrid nano-composites fabricated through powder metallurgy technique

Abstract

The present investigation aims to understand the wear behavior of aluminum LM4 matrix reinforced with the different weight percentage of tungsten carbide and tantalum-niobium carbide (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2wt %) hard particles. Composite Specimens prepared by powder metallurgy route followed by cold pressing and hot sintering process. The wear tests were carried out using pin-on-disc machine under varying load (10, 20, 30 and 40N) speed (1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5m/s) and sliding distance (400, 600, 800 and 1000m) at room temperature. Characterization was done on nanopowders, developed composites and worn out surfaces of tested samples using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffractometer(XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersion Spectroscopy (EDS). The obtained results indicate that higher content of hybrid nanoparticles up to 2wt% in the composite reduces the wear rate up to 43.75% as compared with pure aluminum LM4 alloy.

Keywords

• aluminum
• tungsten carbide
• tantalum niobium carbide powder metallurgy
• scanning electron microscope
• mechanically mixed layer