A Comparative Study on the Wear Behavior of Cast and Forge Aged A356 Alloy with Addition of Grain Refiner and/or Modifier

Abstract

In the present work, a comparative study on the wear behavior of cast aged and forge aged A356 alloy has been investigated without and with the addition of grain refiner and modifier, under dry sliding conditions using a pin-on-disc wear testing machine. The comparison study reveals that tribological properties of A356 materials are highly influenced by T6 heat treatment process. It is found in the present study that, cast aged A356 materials possess higher wear resistance as compared to forge aged materials. Apart from this, the study also reveals that cast aged material is associated with lower frictional forces and coefficient of friction as compared to the forge aged category. It is further observed in the present investigation that abrasive wear mechanism is operative in both the categories of the materials when tested with lower load for lower sliding speed and lower distance of run. At higher values of external parameters the adhesive wear mechanism dominates the wear process. Lower values of wear properties recorded by the forge aged material are an unexpected result in the present studies. It is conceived to be due to the presence of micro cracks while forging.