Investigation of wear behaviors of Al matrix composites reinforced with different B4C rate produced by powder metallurgy methods

The conversion of metal powders into a desired shape in a very short time thanks to the powder metallurgy method is to economically enable mass production. This case allows to be produced of parts with complex and high dimensional accuracy by eliminating the machining needs. Particularly aluminum and its alloys have taken place as indispensable materials in commercial areas in production with powder metallurgy method. In this study, the effects of wear behaviors of Al matrix composites reinforced with different B4C rate produced by powder metallurgy method were investigated. Al and B4C powders with a purity of 99.9% and a size of 325 meshes were prepared as pure Al, 4% B4C/Al, 8% B4C/Al, 12% B4C/Al and 16% B4C/Al. These prepared mixtures were sintered for 90 minutes at 580 °C in atmospheric environment by pressing under a pressure of 350 MPa. Microhardness and wear tests of the produced samples were carried out. Wear experiments of these composites were performed with specially manufactured test equipment at different application loads (5 N, 10 N and 15 N), different sliding distances (250 m, 500 m, 750 m and 1000 m) and a constant speed of 0.46 m/s. In addition, optical microscope, SEM, EDS analyses were used to determine the microstructural changes in the worn and unworn surface of the manufactured composite materials. As a result of experimental studies, it has been detected that the increasing the B4C reinforced rate in composites with Al matrix has been lead to increase of the hardness and to reduce of wear loss. It is also seen that the amount of wear has been increases with increasing of the sliding distance and the applied load. It has been observed that this situation related to the frequency of reinforced rate in microstructure and the distribution of reinforced rate in matrix from SEM images and EDS analysis.