Relationship between thermal and sliding wear behavior of Al6061/Al ₂ O ₃ metal matrix composites

Al6061 alloy and Al6061/Al ₂ O ₃ metal matrix composites (MMCs) were fabricated by stir casting. The MMCs were prepared by addition of 5, 10 and 15 wt% Al ₂ O ₃ particulates and the size of particulates was taken as 16 μm. The effect of Al ₂ O ₃ particulate content, thermal properties and stir casting parameters on the dry sliding wear resistance of MMCs were investigated under 50-350 N loads. The dry sliding wear tests were performed to investigate the wear behavior of MMCs against a steel counterface (DIN 5401) in a block-on-ring apparatus. The wear tests were carried out in an incremental manner, i.e., 300 m per increment and 3,000 m in total. It was observed that, the increase in Al ₂ O ₃ vol% decreased both thermal conductivity and friction coefficient and hence increased the transition load and transition temperature for mild to severe wear during dry sliding wear test.