Dry Sliding Wear Behaviour of Magnesium Alloy Based Hybrid Composites in Transverse Direction

Abstract

Wear behaviour of AE42 Mg alloy-based composites reinforced with Saffil short fibres (SSF) and SiC particles (SiCp) in various combinations has been investigated in transverse direction, i.e., the plane containing random fibre-orientation was parallel to the steel counter-face. Wear tests are conducted on a pin-on-disc set-up under dry sliding condition having a constant sliding velocity of 0.837 m/s for a constant sliding distance of 2.5 km in the load range of 10-40 N. It is observed that the hybrid composites reinforced with both SSF and SiCp exhibit better wear resistance than the composite reinforced with SSF alone, because SiCp are harder than SSF and remain intact retaining their load bearing capacity even at the highest load employed in the present investigation. The dominant wear mechanism is observed to be abrasion for all the composites. It is accompanied by fracture and pull-out of SSF from the worn surfaces. Wear behaviour of the composites in transverse direction is also compared with wear behaviour in longitudinal direction, i.e., the plane containing random fibre-orientation was perpendicular to the steel counter-face, reported earlier by the same authors. It is observed that the wear resistance of the composites in transverse direction is lower than that in longitudinal direction due to the lower load bearing capacity, the extensive fracture and pull-out of SSF from the worn surfaces.