Sand Slurry Erosive Wear Behavior of Hot Extruded Al6061-SiC Composites

C.S. Ramesh, R. Keshavamurthy

Department of Mechanical Engineering, PES Institute of Technology, 100ft Ring Road, BSK III Stage, Bangalore-560 085..

DOI: 10.4236/jmmce.2011.106037                

Abstract

Aluminum based composites are very popular in automotive and aerospace segments. In particular aluminum alloy-SiC composite systems are widely studied and seriously explored for various other applications in defense and space. However they have not been looked at as potential materials in naval and chemical applications where synergistic effects of both wear and corrosion need to be addressed to. This needs the assessment of wear behavior of composites. From the survey, it is evident that major focus is on mechanical and corrosion properties of cast composites. However, meager information is available as regards the slurry erosive wear behavior of cast and extruded metal matrix composites. In the light of the above, the present investigation is aimed at studying in detail the slurry erosive wear behavior of cast and hot extruded Al6061 and Al6061-SiC composites in sand slurry. Al6061-SiC composites have been prepared primarily by vortex method. Hot extrusion of these composites and the matrix alloy has been carried out at 550℃ using a 500T hydraulic press. Both as cast and hot extruded composites have been subjected to microstructure studies, microhardness, and slurry erosive wear tests. The hot extruded composites exhibit higher hardness, and slurry erosive wear resistance when compared with as cast alloy and its composites.

Keywords

Slurry erosive wear, Hot extrusion, Composites, Silicon carbide.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Y Sahin , M . Acilar, “Production and properties of SiCp- reinforced aluminium alloy” Composites, Part A 34 (2003) 709-718.
[2]	A.T.Alpas, J.Zhang, “Effect of microstructure and counter face material on sliding wear resistance of particulate reinforced aluminum matrix composites”, Metallurgical & Materials Transaction, 25 A, (1994) 969-983.
[3]	B. K. Prasad, K. Venkateshwaralu, O.P. Modi, S Das, A. K. Jha, R. Dasgupta, “Effects of SiC dispersion on the sliding wear characteristics of an Al-Cu alloy” Proceedings of the International Conference on Aluminium, INCAL'98, New Delhi, 1998, pp.9-16.
[4]	S. Das, D.P. Mondal, R. Dasgupta, B.K. Prasad, “Mechanism of material removal during erosion-corrosion of an Al-SiC Particle Composite” Wear 236 (1999) 295–302.
[5]	M. Saxena, O.P. Modi, B.K. Prasad, A.K. Jha, “Erosion and corrosion characteristics of an aluminium alloy-alumina fibre composite” Wear 169 (1993) 119.
[6]	H.H. Strehblow, International Congress on Metallic Corrosion, June1984, National Research Council, Canada, 1984, pp-99.
[7]	S. Turenne, D. Simard, “Influence of structural parameters on the slurry erosion resistance of squeeze-cast metal matrix composites” Wear 149 (1991) 187-197.
[8]	S. Turenne, Y. Chatigny, D. Simard, S. Caron, J.Masounave, “The effect of abrasive particle size on the slurry erosion resistance of particulate-reinforced aluminum alloy” Wear 141 (1990) 147.
[9]	G.Straffelini, F.Bollo, A.Tiziani, A.Molinari, “Influence of matrix hardness on the dry sliding behaviour of 20vol% Al2O3-particulate reinforced 6061-Al metal matrix composites” Wear 221 (1997) 192-197.
[10]	S.S.Joshi , N Ramakrishnan, P. Ramakrishnan, “Hot extrusion of Al/SiCp composites” Proceedings of Third International Conference on Advances in Composites”, ADCOMP V2 (2000) 911.
[11]	V.Ganesh, C.K.Lee, M.Gupta, “Enhancing the tensile modulus and strength of Aluminuim alloy Interconnected reinforcement methodology”, Materials Science & Engg. A 333 (2002) 193-198.
[12]	J.An, Y..B.Liu, Y.Liu, Q.Y.Zhang, C.Dong, “Dry sliding wear behaviour of hot extruded Al-Si-Pb alloys in the temperature range 25-200℃”, Wear 256, (2004), 374-385.
[13]	A. Sato and R. Mehrabian, “Formation of Spinel (MgAl2O4) MgO and pure Cu Particles in Al-Zn-Mg alloy-CuO particles composites”, Metallurgical Trans, 7B (1976) 443.
[14]	L.Cao, Y. Wang, C.K Yao, “The wear properties of a Sic-whisker-reinforced aluminum composite” Wear, 24 (1990) 273.
[15]	C.S.Ramesh, A.R.Anwar Khan, N.Ravikumar, P.Savan Prabhu, “Prediction of wear coefficient of Al6061-TiO2 Composites” Wear, (2005), 602-608.
[16]	C.S.Ramesh, S K Seshadri, “Tribological characteristics of Nickel composite coatings” Wear 225 (2003) 893-902.
[17]	Ramachandra. M, Radhakrishna. K, “Sliding wear, Slurry erosive wear and corrosion wear behavior of Aluminium / SiCp composite” Material science-Poland Vol.24.No.2/1.2006.