Effect of Three-Body Abrasion Wear Behavior on B4C/BN-reinforced Al6061 Alloy Fabricated Through Powder Metallurgy Method

Abstract

In the present paper, B4C/BN/Al6061 hybrid composites were fabricated through mechanical mill-assisted powder metallurgy route. Three-body dry abrasive wear analysis with dry sand abrasive particles was performed using Taguchi L16 DOE with various control factors such as B4C wt.% (2–8 wt.%), applied load (10–40 N), sliding velocity (1–2.5 m s−1), and the sliding distance (500–2000 m). It was observed that the wear resistance of the composites substantially increased with an increase in B4C, as the hard B4C reinforcement served as a projection over the aluminum matrix withstanding a higher load. The lamellar microstructure of the BN solid lubricant helped in providing lower stress between abrading surfaces reducing the specific wear rate.