Author(s)

Avijit Sinha, Zoheir Farhat

Department of Process Engineering and Applied Science, Materials Engineering Program, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.

Due to their light weight, high corrosion resistance and good heat conductivity, aluminium alloys are used in many industries today. They are suitable for manufacturing many automotive components such as clutch housings. These alloys can be fabricated by powder metallurgy and casting methods, in which porosity is a common feature. The presence of pores is responsible for reducing their strength, ductility and wear resistance. The present study aims to establish an understanding of the tribological behavior of high pressure die cast Al A380M and powder metallurgy synthesized Al 6061. In this study, dry sliding wear behavior of Al A380M and Al 6061 alloys was investigated under low loads (1.5 N – 5 N) against AISI 52100 bearing steel ball using a reciprocating ball-on-flat configuration and frequency of 10 Hz. Wear mechanisms were studied through microscopic examination of the wear tracks. This study revealed that due to combined effect of real area of contact and subsurface cracking, wear rate increased with increasing porosity content. The difference in friction and wear behavior between received Al A380M and Al 6061 is attributed to their hardness differences.

Powder Metallurgy, Porosity, Hardness, Nanoindentation, Reciprocating Wear

Sinha, A. and Farhat, Z. (2015) A Study of Porosity Effect on Tribological Behavior of Cast Al A380M and Sintered Al 6061 Alloys. Journal of Surface Engineered Materials and Advanced Technology, 5, 1-16. doi: 10.4236/jsemat.2015.51001.