Tribological behavior and mechanism of high proportion of ceramic particles reinforced Al composite

Al matrix composites reinforced with ceramic particles show excellent wear resistance and have great potential to replace convectional materials in many fields. In this paper, a high proportion (∼ 60%) of large ZrO2 particles reinforced Al matrix composites were manufactured by a high pressure infiltration method. The tribological behavior of the Al/ZrO2 composite and non-reinforced Al were investigated and compared using a GCr15 ball-on-disc apparatus under dry sliding wear condition. The microstructure, elements distribution and wear track morphology were analyzed to understand their tribological behavior and wear mechanisms. The wear rate of Al is 2.0 × 10−3 mm3 N−1 m−1, while the wear rate of Al/ZrO2 composite is only 0.15 × 10−3 mm3 N−1 m−1. The experimental results showed that Al is a combined wear mechanism of adhesive wear and abrasive wear. It also proved that the high proportion of large ceramic particle reinforced composite is stable under low load wear condition. The ceramic particles were firmly embedded in the Al matrix, and no ejection or removal of the particles was observed. The results showed that the wear mechanism of this composite is mainly three body abrasion in the stable wear stage.