Three-Body Abrasive Wear Behaviour of Titanium Carbide/Aluminium Composites

Abstract

The aim of the research work was to investigate effect of titanium carbide (TiC) Al metal matrix composites (MMCs) on 3-D body abrasive wear behavior. The wear behavior of the Al/TiC MMCs was studied by varying wt. % of TiC and wear conditions such as dry sand, neutral aqueous slurry, acidic slurry and basic slurry using rubber wheel abrasion tester at 200 rpm test speed. The results showed that the abrasive rate of Al/TiC composite reduces significantly on the addition of TiC. And also reveals that TiC enhances the abrasive resistance of Al alloy. It has been shown that the all three aqueous solutions act as lubricant hence noticeable reduction in the abrasive wear over that of dry condition wear. Both acid and basic slurry enhances the material rate compare to neutral aqueous condition but much lower than that of dry abrasive conditions. The worn-out surfaces specimens were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM shows that the abrasive due to particle pullout micro cutting and ploughing along with voids.