DEVELOPMENT OF FE-BASED METAL MATRIX COMPOSITE USING WC AS REINFORCEMENT BY POWDER METALLURGY ROUTE
1Prakash Kumar Gupta, 2Tribhuwan Kishore Mishra, Gyan Ganga Institute of Technology and Science, Jabalpur
Abstract:- In this work the effect of WC on wear and micro structural properties on Iron (Fe) based metal powder composite has been studied. Four different combination of Fe- 0WC, Fe-4WC, Fe-8WC and Fe-12 WC was prepared by universal testing machine (UTM).
Electrical muffle furnace was used to sinter the sample at 960 °C.. These samples were characterized by SEM, XRD, micro hardness, porosity. Pin on disc wear tester was used to find out the abrasive wear behaviour. Result indicated that Fe-8WC shows dense microstructure minimum wear, higher coefficient of friction, maximum hardness and minimum porosity The W2C and Fe3W3C phase was identified in XRD formed during the sintering process and these phase increases the hardness. Cutting, delamination wear mechanism were identified by analysis of wear out worn surface.
Keyword:- Abrasive wear, Tungsten carbide, Iron, hardness, porosity, Sintering.
1. INTRODUCTION
In the modern industry, is more enforced to develop new composites, such as high resistance, alternative materials of low density in order to rely on multifunctional pieces. Morden industries needs to wear resistive material which increases the life span of components and machine involves in industrial applications.
1.1 Manufacturing of Metal Matrix Composite (MMCS)
Metal Matrix Composite is manufactured by different techniques:-
1. Liquid Phase (casting processes) 2. Vacuum infiltration
3. Pressure less infiltration 4. Dispersion Method 5. Solid State processes
Sintered Powder Metallurgy (PM) Powder Metallurgy techniques are extensively used in the Manufacturing of particle MMC.
1.2 Powder Metallurgy
Metal processing technology is a process in which parts are produced from a Metallic powder. In the usual PM production sequence the powders are compressed (Pressed) into the desired shape in the Mould (Die Punch) and then heated (Sintered) to bond the particles into a hard, rigid mass.
Pressing is complied with in Press type hydraulic Machine using punch and Die (Mould) tooling designed specifically for the part to be manufactured. Sintering is performed at a temperature below the Melting point of the base metal specimen
in the furnace. PM Scope - Filter, oil- impregnated bearing, gear.
1.3 Why Powder Metallurgy is Important
1. PM parts can be mass-produced to accurate shape or near to accurate shape, eliminate or reduce the need for subsequent machining.
2. PM process wastes very little materials 97% of the starting powder is converted to product.
3. PM parts can be made with specified level of porosity to produce a porous metal part.
4. Example - Filter, Oil impregnated bearing and gear.
5. Certain Metals that are difficult to fabricate by other methods can be shaped by powder metallurgy.
Example - Tungsten filament for incandescent lamp bulb are made by PM.
1.4 Limitation and Disadvantages with PM PR°C ESSING
1. High tooling and equipment costs.
2. Metallic powders are expensive.
3. Problem in storing and handling metal powder.
4. Limitation on part geometry because metal powders do not flow laterally in die during pressing.
5. Variation in density throughout part may be a problem, especially for complex geometries.
1.5 PM Works Materials
1. Largest tonnage of metals isan alloy of Iron, Steel, Aluminum.
2. Other PM materials include copper, Nickel and refractory metals. Such as molybdenum and tungsten.
3. Metallic carbide such as tungsten carbide is often included within the scope of powder Metallurgy.
2. REVIEWS
M.F.C. Ordoñez et.al 2018: In this work, Astaloy 85Mo ferrous powders were mixed with different tungsten carbide (WC) additions (2, 5, 7 and 10 wt%) by mechanical alloying (MA) and consolidated by spark plasma sintering (SPS). Tribological evaluation was conducted by means of ball-on-disk tests with different loads (5, 10, 15 and 20 N).
Specimens were in contact with an AISI 52100 ball with a diameter equal to 10mm. Results indicated that WC addition contributed to load support and a decrease of matrix plastic deformation.
Additions higher than 7 wt% of WC, in conditions of high normal load, resulted in the detachment of WC particles and abrasive wear of the counterpart.
Debalina Bhattacharjee et.al 2013: investigated dry sliding wear behavior of tungsten carbide (WC)- reinforced iron matrix composites were carried out at room temperature .for this Three sets of samples (unreinforced iron, 4 wt% micrometer-sized (∼5–15 μm) WC- reinforced iron and 4 wt% nano size (∼30 nm) WC-reinforced iron were prepared using a powder metallurgy.
The relative dry sliding wear performances of the micrometer-size and nano-size WC-reinforced composites were compared with the unreinforced matrix.
Result indicated the values of the coefficient of friction (COF) of composites were found to decrease with an increase in load. Nano-composites showed lower COF.
Siqi Li et.al 2018: In this work, tungsten carbide (WC) nanoparticles were introduced into the WC-Bronze-Ni-Mn matrix with and without diamond grits.
The influence of WC nanoparticles on the microstructure, densification, hardness, bending strength and wear resistance of matrix and diamond composites were
The results showed that the bending strength of the matrix increased up to approximately 20% upon nano-WC addition, while densification and hardness fluctuate slightly. The grinding ratio of diamond composites increased significantly by about 100% due to nano- WC addition. The diamond composites with 2.8 wt% nano-WC addition exhibited the best overall properties, thus having the potential to apply to further diamond tools.
S. Arivukkarasan et.al 2017:
This present paper explores the experimental analysis of a composite with aluminum LM4 alloy as matrix and tungsten carbide (WC) as reinforcement material. The composite specimens were fabricated by the stir casting process. The reinforced ratios of 5, 10 and 15 wt. % of WC particulates were stirred in molten Aluminium LM4 alloy (AALM4).
thetribological behavior of the composite was studied using pin-on-disc wear test apparatus.
X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was conducted to analyze the various elements present in composites. Results indicated the improvement in mechanical properties: hardness, impact strength and tensile strength was achieved for the increase in the addition of wt.% of WC particles in the LM4 matrix. The decrease in mass loss was observed for the composite contains 15 wt. % of WC during the wear test among the various composites tested.
A. Prairie et.al 2018: The microstructure and composition of the specimens were analyzed and the wear- resistant properties against WC and alumina balls were comparatively investigated by SEM/EDS analyses. The wear rates of specimens were evaluated by optical profilometry. The results showed that the overall wear performance, which is obtained by considering the wear loss of the substrates, indicated less resistance against Alumina compared to WC ball contact.
3. PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY
The aim of this study to find out the abrasive wear and micro structural properties of the Fe-WC metal powder composite prepared by the powder
1. Most of the work was done by using different methods to develop FE-WC powder composite like squeeze casting stir casting etc.
But literature hardly mentions the formation of Fe-WC composite through powder metallurgy method.
2. There are several factors which influence the wear mechanism there is still a need to identified
different wear mechanism by the microstructure of wear outworn surfaces. The wear mechanism was explained by the three-D image in detail.
3. Earlier studies do not show abrasive wear, coefficient of friction, micro hardness, XRD in the same platform. In this study, various parameters are included to explain the wear behavour.
Fig. 1 Layout of Work 4. MATERIALS AND METHODS
The aim of this chapter is to investigate the effect of Tungsten-carbide (WC) on wear and micro structure-property of iron-based metal powder matrix and discuss the various methods and materials selection for this work.
4.1 Selection of Materials
1. Iron Powder:- for this work commercially available 99.5% pure iron powder (300 mesh μmsize) purchased from qualichem fine- chem. chemical Pvt. Ltd. Vadodara India. Chemical composition of iron powder is mention below table no. 1.
Table 1. Chemical composition of iron powder
Element As Cu Mn S Ni Pb Zn
Wt % 99.5 0.0005 0.005 0.05 0.02 0.05 0.002 0.01 2. Tungsten- Carbide (WC):-
Atomized Tungsten-carbide powder with 97.90% purity was selected and purchased from qualichem chemical Pvt. Ltd.
Vadodara specification was mention in table no. 2.
Table 2. Tungsten Carbide powder specification Element Sieve analysis
45μm Oxygen content
(Hydrogen loss) Other impurities Purity
wt.% 99.00 1.87 0.22 97.90
3. Graphite Powder:- Electrolytic graphite powder with 98.8% purity and grain size 325 meshes was
mixed for lubrication purposes.
The specification of graphite powder is mention table no. 3.
Table 3. Graphite powder specification Element C Fe H2O Other wt.% 98.0 0.045 0.5 1.45 4.2 Die-Punch Preparation
Fig. 2 Die-Punch Preparation
Fig. 3 Weighing Machine 5. RESULTS & ANALYSIS
In this chapter, various results are discussed obtained by the experimental investigation.
Fig. 4 Microstructure of Fe-0WC, Fe-4WC, Fe-8WC, Fe-12WC samples 5.1 Micro Structure of Specimen
The microstructure of Fe-0WC, Fe-4WC, Fe-8WC, Fe-12WC a sintered sample. This diagram clear indicate Tungsten- carbide(WC) dispersed uniformly on the iron Tungsten-carbide(Fe-WC) matrix and it occupies pores which help to reduce the porosity. The addition of Tungsten- carbide (WC) also prohibits the enhancement of gain during the sintering it also prevents the boundary distortion.
Microstructure of Fe-12WC shows brittle structure and several cracks appeared on the surface it shows that after optimum addition of Tungsten- carbide (WC), Tungsten-carbide(WC) matrix does not absorbed extra addition of Tungsten-carbide (WC) and Tungsten- carbide (WC) deposit on the surface 3-D profile of surface Cleary indicated that uniform and homogenous dispersion of Tungsten-carbide(WC) in Fe-4WC and Fe-
8WC shows dense microstructure wear some porous appeared in the Fe-0WC and series of micro cracks appeared in Fe- 12WC.
5.2 X-ray Diffraction
X-ray Diffraction of Fe-0WC, Fe-4WC, Fe- 8WC, Fe-12WC are shown by Magnetite and iron (Fe-3O4) contain clear seen in the Fe-0WC sample. In Tungsten-carbide (WC) sample WC, W2C and Fe3W3C phases were identified the formation of the W2C phase during the sintering process which helps to increase the hardness.
Presence of Fe3W3C phase is the evidence of Tungsten-carbide (WC) particles diffused around the iron particles and make hard combination of Iron (Fe) and Tungsten-carbide (WC) but Fe3W3C also is brittle in nature when excess amount of Tungsten-carbide (WC) deposited on the surface.
Fig. 5 XRD Of Sample 5.3 Porosity
Image-J software was used to find the porosity. Same images sample was used to identify the porous structure Fe-8WC, Fe-4WC, and Fe-12WC shows 1.8, 1.7
and 1.1 times less porosity as compared to Fe-0WC. The minimum porosity of Fe- 4WC can be attributed to the dense and uniform microstructure.
Fig. 6 Porosity of Fe-0WC Fe-4WC, Fe-8WC, and Fe-12WC Specimen 5.4 Micro Hardness
The micro hardness of Fe-0WC, Fe-4WC, Fe-8WC, Fe-12WC shows maximum hardness and followed by Fe-4WC, Fe- 12WC and Fe-0WC composite Fe-8WC, Fe-4WC and Fe-12WC shows 2.58, 2.21and 1.32 times higher hardness as
compared to Fe-0WC. Higher hardness of Fe-8WC attribute homogenous and dense microstructure it is also indicated that strong bonding between the Iron (Fe) and Tungsten-carbide (WC) particles at addition of 8% of Tungsten-carbide (WC).
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Fe-8WC Fe-4WC Fe-12WC Fe-0WC
P or os it y (%)
Porosity
Fig. 7 Micro Hardness 6. CONCLUSION
1. SEM result showed dense structure at Fe-8 WC Tungsten- carbide (WC) dispersed uniformly on the iron Tungsten-carbide (Fe- WC) matrix and it occupies pores which helps to reduce the porosity.
2. The W2C and Fe3W3C phase was identified in XRD formed during the sintering process and these phase increases the hardness.
3. Fe-8WC. The specimen showed higher hardness which is 2.58 times higher than the Fe-0WC specimen. Fe-8WC shows minimum porosity. Fe-8WC, Fe-
4WC, and Fe-12WC show 1.8, 1.7 and 1.1 times less porosity as compared to Fe-0WC.
4. The fe-8wcspecimen shows minimum wear and higher coefficient of friction. Fe-0WC, Fe- 12WC and Fe-4WC specimen shows 4.96, 3.30, 1.88 times higher wear than the Fe-8WC specimen.
5. Optimum amount ofFe-8WC shows minim wear Extra addition of WC increases the brittleness of composite and not absorbs by matric.
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Fe-8WC Fe-4WC Fe-12WC Fe-0WC
