Wear Characteristics of Hybrid Aluminium MMCs Subjected to Extrusion Process

Abstract

Aluminium alloys are extensively used due to their excellent mechanical and thermal properties, However the performance of these materials are enhanced with the addition of ceramic reinforcement phase into the aluminium matrix phase, forming a newer material having improved mechanical and tribological properties. The processing technique of these materials plays a vital role in obtaining required properties of the materials. Among the available processing techniques, liquid state processing (Stir Casting) technique is widely used because of its processing feasibility. However, the problem associated with the process is agglomeration of reinforcement particles, uneven distribution, blowholes, porosity which challenges the researchers in obtaining the required properties. To overcome these limitations, Secondary processing technique like Extrusion is used which enhances the properties of processed materials. In the present work is carried out by selecting Aluminium A356 as base material to which 10% of 23μm size Al2O3 is reinforced. Hybrid composite material is processed by adding 1%, 3% & 5% MoS2 particulates of 5μm size along with Al2O3. The sliding wear characteristics of aluminium based hybrid metal matrix composites have been studied in the present work and the sliding wear resistance of the material is found to improve with addition of MoS2 particulates.