Tribological performance of a novel high wear resistant high Si Al–Si alloy weld overlay

A novel process has been developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the production of high silicon (Si) containing aluminum–silicon (Al–Si) alloy weld overlay on Al alloys. The main purpose of the overlay is to improve the wear resistance of the underlying alloy. The process is versatile enough to place the overlay only in critical areas, thus, greatly reducing the cost of a component. Instead of manufacturing a component from expensive high Si content 390 Al alloy, the component could be manufactured from an inexpensive alloy, such as 319 Al alloy, and the high Si, Al–Si alloy overlay could be placed in essential areas where high wear resistance was required. Test specimens comprised of the high Si, Al–Si alloy overlays on 319 Al alloy have been processed to mimic the wear resistance of bulk 390 Al alloys. Pin-on-disk wear tests have been performed, following ASTM standards, to quantify the wear resistance of the high Si, Al–Si alloy overlay with that of bulk 390 Al alloy. Wear tests have also been p...