The effects of heat treatment and antimony addition on the microstructure and wear properties of Al-15%Mg2Si metal matrix composite

This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of antimony addition and heat treatment on the microstructure and dry sliding wear behaviour of Al-15%Mg2Si particulate metal matrix composite (PMMC). In this work, composite was characterized by scanning electron microscope equipped with energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS), and dry sliding wear experiments were performed in a pin-on-disc wear tester against a DIN 100Cr6 steel disc at speed of 0.5 ms-1 and normal loads of 10, 30. The wear results showed that the addition of antimony simultaneously with the applying the heat treatment to Al-15%Mg2Si composite can lead to reduction of wear rate through decreasing the size of Mg2Si particles and reduction the stress concentration points. The Comparison of width of the wear tracks and the value of plastic deformation on the worn surface and hardness results confirmed this issue

Keywords:

Wear , Al-Mg2Si , Heat treatment , Antimony , Microstructure