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STUDY OF MECHANICAL AND TRIBOLOGICAL BEHAVIOUR OF ALUMINIUMCOMPOSITES REINFORCED BY TUNGSTEN CARBIDE THROUGH POWDER METALLURGY TECHNIQUE: A REVIEW
Manoj Kumar Patel Haldkar, T. K Mishra and Murali Krishna
Abstract - In this aluminum metal powder, specimen reinforced with o, 4, 8, and 12 Wt. % of WC were prepared by powder metallurgy route. Universal Testing Machine (UTM) was used to prepare these Al-WC specimens at compaction pressure 80KN. A muffle furnace was used to sinter these specimen at 620°C.An abrasive wear test was done on a pin-on- disc wear tester using silicon abrasive media of sintered specimens. These sintered specimens were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) along with dispersive energy spectrum (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and hardness. The result shows that hardness and wear resistance increase up to 8 wt. % of the optimum amount of WC and Al-8WC sintered specimen exhibits minimum wear loss and higher hardness due to refined microstructure and strong bonding between Al and WC. Cutting, ploughing, and fracture wear mechanisms were identified in the sintered specimen.
Keyword: Al; WC; abrasive Wear; SEM; XRD; hardness.
1 INTRODUCTION
In modern industry, it is more required to develop new metal composites, such as high wear resistance, alternative materials of low density, to trust multifunctional pieces. Manufacturing is the process of converting raw materials of low quality to the final finished product.
The casting process is widely used in industries for manufacturing different types of the component but the drawback of this process that it is not suitable for complex shape and geometry. Secondary operations like finishing are needed to maintain the required dimension, shape, and size. Powder metallurgy (P/M) is another manufacturing method to manufacture light engineering machine parts and components. Automobile, aerospace, and other complex shape parts are easily manufactured by powder metallurgy root with good dimensional accuracy and surface finishing.
The powder metallurgy constituents are being broadly used for advanced industrial applications. Now the powder metallurgy is widely accepted worldwide to produce such complex shapes. This technique offers exact dimensions at a very excellent production rate with low cost. Moreover, Al-based composite one needing elevated temperature structured application up to 350°C this is because such type composite delivers high strength at higher temperature due to development of meta- stable intermetallic phases.
Al-WC inter metallic's composite are of substantial significance because iron is invariantly existing as an impurity. The resulting formation of dissimilar intermetallic compositions. These composites show good thermal conductivity also; some magnetic properties can be improved when the grain size is compact to the nanoscale.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Sachit T. S. et al. (2021) investigated abrasive wear properties of aluminum (LM4) matrix reinforced with the varying weight percentage of WC tungsten carbide and tantalum- niobium carbide (TaC) (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2wt%) hard nano particles.
Composite Specimens prepared by powder metallurgy route using clod compaction and sintering process.
Pin on disc wear tester was used for wear test at different load range between 1- to 40 step of 10 N and sliding distance ranged between 400 to 1000 m in step of 200 m and velocity 1, 1.5 and 2.5 m/s. These powder, smaples and worn-out surface were characterized by SEM/
EDS, TEM and XRD. Result showed by to 2wt% in the composite reduces the wear rate.
2. Ranjit Barua et al. (2020). The main objects of this paper are to find out the effects of copper addition on the porosity of eutectic Al-12 Si powder metallurgy alloy. This alloy is extensively used due to its unique
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properties in automobiles, such aspistons, rotary engine housings, liners, etc. to reduce the weight of the components and fuel consumption.
In this experiment six Al-12Si-xCu alloys with copper content of 0.5%, 1.5%, 2.5%, 3.5%, 4.5%,5.5% are produced. It is observed that the sample's porosity increased with increased copper content and porosity is maximum in low compaction pressure.
3. A. M. Sadoun et al. (2020) Investigations on the experimental examination on the additions of Al2O3 coated Ag percent on the properties of Cu–Al2O3 coated Ag nanocomposites. With the object of enhancement dispersion of high weight fraction of Al2O3 nanoparticles and wet ability in Cu matrix, nano Al2O3 particles were electroless coated via Ag particles. Four different Al2O3 content, 3, 6, 9, and 12 wt.%, are considered to highlight its effect on the characteristics of the fabricated nanocomposite. High- energy ball milling is applied for mixing powders and compaction, and sintering are applied for consolidation. Microstructural explanations displayed a homogenous distribution of Al2O3. The relative density decreases with increasing the content of Al2O3 nanoparticles. In addition, micro hardness is increased gradually via the addition of nano Al2O3 coated Ag. Sliding wear rate decreases by increasing the Al2O3 coated Ag nanocomposite content and increasing the applied load. Also, the coefficient of friction decreases via increasing the nano Al2O3 coated Ag nanocomposite content and increasing applied load.
4. K. P. Vetrivel et al. (2017) Investigated the effect of sliding wear behavior of aluminum WC composite prepared by stir casting method.
Three different WC percentages (3%, 6%, and 9%) were selected with3 % graphite for investigation. The wear test was performed by selecting three other loads, 10N, 15Na, and 20N, with three different velocities 1m/s, 1.5 m/s, and 2 m/s. The result has shown that wear decreases with
increasing sliding distance. Hardness and wear resistance increases with increasing of WC contents.
5. Shreenivas Annigeri et al. (2017) Investigated the effect of WC contents reinforcement with Al alloy by using the stir casting process.
Microstructure and mechanical properties like hardness, tensile strength, and impact tests were carried out. The result showed that hardness, tensile strength, and impact are improved with the addition of WC. In addition, the uniform microstructure was found in SEM Test.
6. Amir Pakdel et al. (2017), Investigated the effect of WC concentration nano and microparticles both on micro structural and mechanical properties. Nano and micro composite were prepared by 1%, 5%, and 10% WC and mixed in Al matrix.
Spark plasma sintering was done to make a solid specimen with metal powder. The result shows that density and hardness increase with increasing of WC. In addition, WC increases the micro structural properties.
7. Neelima Devi Chinta et al. (2016) Investigated the effect of red mud on the sliding wear behavior of and microstructure of the Al-WC matrix.
The result indicated that Increasing of red mud percentage increases the wear resistance. It was also reported that nanostructured reinforcement shows higher wear resistance as compared to micro structured reinforcement.
8. Abhijith R et al. (2016) Investigated the effect of WC on wear and microstructure properties of Al matrix prepared by situ casting method. Mechanical properties like microhardness and wear were studied. The result indicated that the addition of WC improved the microhardness and the wear properties of metal matrix composite.
9. S. Arivukkarasan et al. (2017), Investigated the effect of WC on mechanical and mechanical, Tribological, and microstructural properties on aluminum LM4. Pin on disk wear tester was used to find out
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the wear behavior of composite, XRDanalysis was done to find out the presence of various elements matrix.
The result shows that WC improved mechanical like hardness, tensile strength, and impact strength, tribological and microstructural properties improved with the addition of WC.
10. L. M. Vilhena et al.(2016) Investigated that the effect of different binder materials on the tribological properties of cemented carbides was analyzed. Flat samples of conventional WC–Co and newly developed WC–AISI 304 stainless steel (SS) with and without carbon addition were surface finished by grinding and polishing. Comparative experiments were performed using a ball-cratering tribometer. Worn surfaces were characterized by optical microscopy, surfaces scanning topography, and scanning electron microscopy, and the result is indicated that the abrasive wear resistance of the developed wc–ss composites is higher than that of conventional WC-Co and decreases with the carbon addition, in direct relation with the decreasing hardness 11. Y. N. V. Sai Ram et al.(2016) Investigated the sliding wear behavior of WC-Co HVOF coating. Pin on disc wear tester was used to investigate the sliding wear behavior.
Characterization of these coating was found out using SEM, XRD, and microhardness tests. The result shown that wear properties and microhardness improved by WC- Co.
Uniform microstructure was obtained by WC-Co coating.
12. Jitendra M Mistry et al.(2016) Investigated, this paper presents an overview of diversified reinforcement on aluminum metal matrix composites in terms of tribological aspects. The tribology wheel becomes helpful in selecting parameters with possible permutation and combination for further improvement of tribological properties, and it result indicated that the tribological performance significantly improved with an increasing percentage of reinforcement in the matrix. Multiple reinforcements are found to induce
cooperating effect between the reinforcements, so better combinations of wear and friction properties are achieved. And the product development using amcs at an efficient, effective, and economic scale is an open-ended area with enormous scope for research.
13. Simon et al. (2015), Investigated the Al-WC composite prepared by powder metallurgy root, different WC percentages of 0%, 5%, and 15%
were used to identify their effect on mechanical and wear properties. The result indicates that the composite's hardness, density porosity, and wear property improved with the addition of WC during Sintering Al12W was reported on the matrix.
14. ARK. Swamy et al. (2011), Prepared WC particulate and Al6061-graphite composite by vortex method, WC vary from 0% to 4% by weight, the mechanical property of the composite like hardness, ultimate tensile strength, Young modulus, ductility and compressive strength were investigated. The result shows that WC improves this mechanical property like hardness, ultimate tensile strength, Young modulus, ductility, and compressive strength and decreases the ductility.
15. Ehsan Ghasali et al. (2015) Investigated the effect of WC-Co particles reinforced aluminum matrix by conventional and microwave sintering. The various tests are performed in this work, such as density, XRD, and sem. The results indicated that the highest density of conventional and microwave sintering corresponds to 97.4 ± 1.2%
and 98.6 ± 0.8 of theoretical density, respectively; the highest bending strength of conventional and microwave sintered samples were 223 ± 12 and 256 ± 12 mpa, respectively. Furthermore, the XRD test showed the decomposition of WC particles and the formation of al5w and al12w interfacial reaction product phases in both processes.
And the SEM test is also revealed that WCre inforcement particles were more likely to be agglomerated in the microwave than the conventional sintering process.
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16. Bansal et al.(2015) Investigated theeffect of al359 alloy was reinforced with silicon carbide and silicon carbide/graphite particles using the stir casting process. Thereafter their mechanical and wear properties were investigated. It was found that the hardness of the al359- silicon carbide composite is better than the Al 359- silicon carbide-graphite composite.
The silicon carbide/graphite- reinforced composite exhibits a superior ultimate tensile strength against silicon carbide reinforced composite. The wear test was conducted at different loading, sliding velocities, and sliding distances conditions. And the result indicated that the wear resistance of al359 alloy increased with the reinforcement of silicon carbide/graphite material for higher loading, sliding velocities, and sliding distance conditions. The sem images of al359-sic and al359-sic-gr composites found larger size cracks, ploughing marks, grooves, and voids present on the worn surfaces of the component prepared.
17. Hariprasada et al. (2013) Investigated the effect of WC (WC) as reinforcements for aluminum (al) on the physical properties of the composites like sem, XRD result indicated that WC uniformly distributed in al matrix and good interfacial bond was reported between WS-Al matric. Wc improves impact resistance and reducing the cracks and voids.
18. G. B. Veeresh Kumar et al. (2011) Investigated the effect of mechanical and wear behavior of Al-MMC and the prediction of the mechanical and tribological properties of aluminum MMCS. After the preparation of composite material, various experiments are performed, such as density, mechanical properties, hardness, and wear behavior. The result indicated that, the density of the composites increases with the incorporation of the hard ceramic reinforcement into the matrix material, the hardness of the composites was reviewed. In conclusion, it is discovered that as the reinforcement contents increased
in the matrix material, the hardness of the composites also increased, the ceramic reinforced Al-MMCS will have better wear resistance than the unreinforced alloys.
19. L. Espinosa et al.(2011) Investigated the effect of adding Cr3C2, WC, or a mixture of both as grain growth inhibitors to cemented carbides obtained from WC–12wt.% Conan crystalline mixtures on the behavior of friction and dry sliding wear have been analyzed. All the wear tests were performed on a tribometer with the ball on disc configuration, using a WC–6 wt.% Co ball as a counterpart with normal contact loads of 40 and 60 n, sliding distance of 2000 m, and a sliding speed of 0.1 m/s. And the result indicated that an increase in the wear resistance of the order of 90%. Thus, the results obtained in this study point out the significant influence of grain growth inhibitors in cemented carbides' friction and wear behavior.
2.1 Need of Study
This study aims to investigate the wear behavior of the Al and WC binary systems by analyzing the results of the dry sliding wear testing of the Al-WC powder.
Unfortunately, there is no direct information available on the validation and identification of the wear rate, volumetric wear, and Porosity.
The increase in the accuracy of the results and their analysis may be utilized by the design and development and the operation engineers to predict the limiting values in terms of instantaneous wear and terms of sliding distance and velocity.
The study also investigates the nature of wear. For example, wear rate and volumetric wear and the effects of the parameters like friction coefficient and the avg. Wear concerning the % WC content in the Al-WC powder preforms. The experimentation shall be carried out on a tribometer of Pin-On Disc type.
3 CONCLUSION
From the experiment result in analysis following conclusions were finding out of Al-WC Metal powder composite.
The addition of WC refines the microstructure due to strong bonding between Al and WC particles. The al-8WC
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sintered specimen exhibits densemicrostructure when WC is increased up to optimum addition of 8 wt. % the extra amount of WC flout on the upper surface and increases the separation Al particles.
XRD results confirm the presence of various major and minor phases of Al WC along with Al5WC, which increases the hardness of the matrix.
Hardness increases of sintered specimen up to optimum addition of 8 wt.
% of WC. WC-8 WC shows higher hardness. Al-0WC, Al-4WC, Al-8WC, and Al-12WC exhibit hardness in 61, 76, 80 and 72 Hv, respectively. The higher hardness of the Al-8WC sintered specimen can be attributed to refining and dense microstructure.
Al-0WCCarbide shows higher wear loss, and Al-8WC sintered specimen exhibits minimum wear due to dense microstructure and higher hardness AL-
0WC, Al-4WC, and Al-12WC sintered samples shoes 129%, 28%, and 71%
higher weight loss as compared to Al- 8WC.
The addition of tungsten Carbide increases the COF, and Al-8WC shows a higher coefficient of friction, whereas Al- 0WC shows a minimum coefficient of friction.
Cutting, ploughing, and fracture wear mechanisms were identified in the sintered specimen. Small groves were seen in-8WC, and deep grooves were seen in the Al-12WC worn-out surface of the sintered sample.
REFERENCE
1. Sachit T. S. et al, Wear Behavior of Aluminum LM4Reinforced with WC and Ta/NbC Hybrid Nano-Composites Fabricated Through Powder Metallurgy Technique FME Transactions (2019) 47, 534-542 534.
