The transfer, mixing and wear behaviour of an aluminum-silicon-silicon carbide metal matrix composite under plasticity-dominated, low-speed reciprocal sliding conditions

This study examines the mechanical mixing behaviour of an Aluminum-Silicon Metal Matrix Composite (Al-MMC) reinforced with 20vol% SiC particulate. This material has been established in most unidirectional studies to have superior wear resistance over the unreinforced binary Al-Si alloy. Wear of the A356-20vol%SiC composite has been demonstrated to result in surface MML formation during dry unidirectional sliding against a hard steel counterface. The central question to be answered in this study is if surface mechanical mixing can form with reciprocal sliding conditions, with different counterfaces and with different applied loads and sliding velocity than so far established in literature. In other words, more factors need to be examined (dominant wear mechanisms required, role of debris reprocessing, integration of counterface elements and oxides) as they relate specifically to mechanically mixed layer (MML) formation, allowing its wear resistance to be more fundamentally understood.; Effort is taken to understand the transfer of elements and counterface material that occurs in forming mechanically mixed layers between sliding surfaces by using different counterface materials in dry sliding contact against the composite aluminum. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...