Wear Behavior Analysis of Silica Carbide Based Aluminum Metal Matrix Composites

Aluminum matrix composites (AMCs) refer to the class of light weight and high-performance aluminum centric material systems. The reinforcements like Al2O3, SiC, and graphite in volume fractions ranging from a few percent to 60% in AMCs could enhance the properties of this metal. Among them Silica Carbide (SiC) particles have been found to have an excellent compatibility with the aluminum matrix and can be obtained at low cost. The major part of applications of AMCs includes moving and sliding parts, hence the investigation of tribological properties of these materials is very important to understand the behavior of composite materials while in service application. Therefore, present study focused on tribological properties (friction and wear behavior) of Al2014 – SiC composite and also comparison with Al2014 composite. The Al2014-SiC composites were fabricated by stir casting method with 5 % volume fraction of SiC particles and pin of 8 X 30 mm diameter and height were cut with Wire Electric Discharge Machine (WEDM). The friction and wear behavior tests are carried at 3,6 and 9 kgs load at constant sliding speed of 1m/s using pin on disc wear testing equipment. From the results as, sliding distance increase the value of coefficient of friction and volume of material loss increases for both aluminum matrix alloy and silicon carbide-based aluminum metal matrix composites. As the Increase in loads, the value of coefficient of friction decreases for both aluminum matrix alloy as well as silicon carbide-based aluminum metal matrix composites.