A Comparison of the Erosive Wear Performance of Particle Reinforced Aluminum Matrix Composites

Abstract

Erosive wear is an important industrial issue that needs addressing to avoid failures in the erosive media channels. The current study reports the engineering efforts to enhance the wear performance of ceramic particle (SiC/Al2O3) reinforced AA5083 alloy exposed to low velocity steel erodent particles. Replacing the ceramic reinforcement with particles that have better bonding tendencies with the matrix and larger particle size (similar to 5 times) improved the erosive wear performance (as much as 21.28 %). While the improvement margins were much more prominent at oblique (30 degrees and 60 degrees) angles compared to 90 degrees, the wear loss was mainly driven by particle dislodgement, cavity formation and matrix trimming. The particle dislodgment and fragmentation were oppressed for larger Al2O3 particles at oblique angles that resulted in improved wear response. For 90 degrees impingement, the overall wear loss was controlled by the ceramic content and excessive wear happened in the matrix through micro-cutting, chipping and ceramic particle fragmentation.