STUDYING THE EFFECT OF REINFORCING BY SICP ON THE DRY SLIDING WEAR BEHAVIOR AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF AL- 4% CU MATRIX ALLOY

Abstract

This research is devoted to study the effect of addition of different weight percent from SiCp ( 2, 4, 6, 8 ) to Al– 4 Cu alloy which have been fabricated by liquid metallurgy method on the dry sliding wear behavior and mechanical properties. Wear characteristics of Al–SiC composites have been investigated under dry sliding conditions and compared with base alloy. Dry sliding wear tests have been carried out using pin-on-disk wear test under normal applied loads 5, 10, 15 and 20 N and at different sliding velocity of (2.7, 3.7, 4.7) m/sec. It was also observed that the wear rate varies linearly with increases normal applied load but lower in composites as compared to the base material. The wear mechanism appears to be oxidative for both Al – Cu alloy and composites under the given conditions of load and sliding velocity as indicated by optical microscopic of the worn surfaces. Further, it was found from the experimentation that the wear rate decreases linearly with increasing weight percent of silicon carbide. The best results have been obtained at 8 % wt SiC . We also observed that the yield strength, tensile strength increases with increasing wt% of SiC , but the ductility decreases.