Investigation of influences to wear behaviour of Ni3Al intermetallic reinforced metal matrix composites produced by powder metallurgy

In the present study, sliding wear behaviour of different metal matrix composite reinforced with different ratio of Ni3Al intermetallic fabricated by powder metallurgy technique was investigated. Al, Cu and 2124 Al alloy materials were used as matrix materials. Intermetallic particle reinforced composites contained 5, 10, 15 wg %Ni3Al, the artificial aging was made for observing the effect of the aging heat treatment on the wear behavior of the 2124Al ? Ni3Al composites. Dry sliding wear test were done at a constant sliding velocity of 0.4 m/s and constant sliding distance of 1500 m a load in the range 83-150 N and a temperature in the range 25-150°C using pim-on-ring system. Wear datas were dona according to weight loss mea surement. Friction coefficient datas were taken for all experimental conditions. The worn surfaces were examined by SEM and EDS. Finally; experiments performed un der different loads; weight loss generally increased with increasing load. Besides, weight loss increased with increasing the ratio of the reinforcement. Fort he low loads, the best wear resistance was observed for Cu-Ni3Al composites having the low reinforcement ratios. At the high load, 2124 Al-Ni3Alcomposites which is applied to the T6 heat treatment, were given well results than those of them. The unreimforced 2124 Al matrix samples with T6 heat treatment showed high wear resistance at the low loads. Together with the increasing load, unreinforced Cu matrix samples was given well result than those of them. The weight loss generally increased with increasing temperature and the ratio of the reinforcement for all of the sample. The high wear resistance was observed for the unreinforced 2124 Al matrix samples at the low temperatures (25 and 50 °C) for the Cu matrix samples at the high temperatures (100 and 150 °C). Cu matrix composites showed low wear rate at the low temperature (25°C) while 2124 Al- Ni3Al ? T6 composites showed the same resuit at high temperatures (50-150 °C). Keywords: Metal matrix composite materials, Al, Cu, 2124Al alloy, Ni3Al, wear, temperature