Study On Erosion Behaviour Of Hybrid Aluminium Composite.

Abstract

The origin of the light metals, as compared to other metals in this century, is noticeable and an exciting area of expansion for innovation. Light metals, are need of the day in engineering, among them application of aluminium and its alloys is enormous. we observe that these metals tend to have a progressive loss of metal from having contact surface with other metals. Erosion is one such wear process, where damage occurs by the repeated application of high localised stresses. Erosion due to impact of solid particle, is a significant problem. In the present work, the erosion behaviour of hybrid aluminium composite is studied. AL 6061 is used as the base alloy. AL 6061 alloy has excellent corrosion resistance but poor wear resistance. So, in order to have improved properties, it is reinforced with Tungsten Chromium Nickel powder in varied proportions by the method of stir casting. The results are compared with the as-cast Al-alloy to determine the improvement in mechanical properties. The tests were conducted in ASTM G76 setup, to determine solid particle erosion behaviour and the results of the hybrid composite were compared with that of as-cast AL 6061 alloy. It was evident that mass loss was maximum at 300 inclinations, which is a characteristic of ductile materials. It was observed that upon increasing the percentages of reinforcement (wt.%), the wear resistance of the hybrid composite increased significantly. It was also observed that the inclusion of tungsten-chromium-nickel powder increased the hardness of the hybrid composite significantly.