Influence of SiC Particle Size on the Wear Properties of SiC/Cu Composites

Abstract

In this paper, we systematically investigated the influence of SiC particle size on the wear properties of the SiC particle reinforced Cu matrix composite prepared by powder metallurgy process. Under low load (≤120N), the increase of the SiC particle size contributes to the improvement of the abrasive resistance and the main abrasion mechanism is abrasive wear. With the increase of the load, the large SiC particle is easy to break and exfoliate, leading to delamination wear and the decrease of the strength. Under higher load (≥120N), the small size of the SiC reinforcement particle which can reduce the plastic deformation of the subsurface efficiently has significant enhancement effect of the SiC/Cu composite, avoiding delamination fracture.