Wear Behavior of Dual Particle Size (DPS) Reinforced Aluminum Alloy

Abstract

Present work aims to find the combined effect of coarse and fine size particle reinforcement of zircon sand in aluminum alloy LM13 on the wear behavior. Stir casting process was used to fabricate the composite. The composites are fabricated by varying the reinforcement of fine and coarse size zircon sand particles and compared with the single size reinforcement. Surface morphology was studied by using optical and Scanning electron microscope. Coarse and fine particle zircon sand of 106-125 μm and 20-32 μm size respectively are used in the present study. The wear test was carried out on pin-on disk machine. Microhardness measurement was done for developed composites. Wear track and debris are analyzed by SEM to study the wear mechanism. Line profile and EDS analysis is also done to validate the microstructural results. Study reveals that a combination of 3% and 12% coarse particle reinforced composite exhibits better wear resistance while 3% coarse and 12% fine particle reinforcement decreases the wear resistance. It is also observed that zircon sand particles provide effective nucleation site for the eutectic silicon. Microstructural examination shows globular and finely distributed eutectic silicon in the vicinity of the reinforced particles.