Fabrication and wear behaviour of Mg-3wt.%Al-x wt. % SiC composites

In this work, Silicon Carbide (SiC) reinforced Mg/3Al matrix composite was developed via powder metallurgy (PM) method. Friction coefficient (COF) and wear rate (WR) of the composite was studied using Pin on disc wear tester. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was used to investigate the microstructure of sintered samples. During the experiments, L16 orthogonal design was followed. Wear analysis was done with four wear control factors such as the reinforcement (Wt.%), the applied load (‘P’), the sliding velocity (‘V’) and the sliding distance (‘D’). In this study, the optimal combination of parameters was found using signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio analysis. Based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the ‘P’ and Wt.% of SiC are the two parameters that have the greatest influence on WR and COF. From the analysis, Mg/3Al/9SiCcomposites exhibited better wear properties among other composition tested. Worn surface analysis was conducted for the tested samples and the SEM images are reported.