Experimental Investigation to Study the Influence of Variation in Composition on Tribological Behavior and Impact Strength of Aluminium Alloy Al7068

Abstract

Aluminium alloys have a wide variety of applications in the industrial sector due to some unique characteristics like lightweight, high strength to weight ratio, corrosion resistance, good electrical conductivity, recyclability, ductility, and formability, etc. Due to this unique combination of properties, the applications of aluminium alloys continue to increase. The tribological behavior and impact strength were studied in this research work by conducting the wear and impact tests, varying the composition of two major alloying elements, Magnesium (Mg) and Zinc (Zn) of Al7068 aluminium alloy. The specimens were prepared as per ASTM standards for wear and impact tests, four compositions each for Mg% varying b/w (2.2 to 3%), and Zn % varying b/w (7.3 to 8.3%). The results of the wear test on the alloy Al7068 shows that the specimens with 3% Mg and 7.6% Zn compositions gives least wear rate at loads 2 kg and 3 kg respectively whereas the specimens with compositions of 2.75% Mg and 7.3% Zn give highest wear rate at a low load of 1 kg. The impact test results indicate that specimens with compositions of 2.2% Mg and 7.6% Zn of the alloy Al7068 give the highest impact strength which in turn improves its performance.