Effect of Mineral Garnet Reinforced on the Tribological Properties of Composite at High Temperature

Abstract

Aluminum alloys are widely used as engineering materials because of their high strength. Natural mineral garnet reinforced aluminum composite was developed using conventional stir casting technology. As Garnet refracting particles offer high mechanical strength and thermal stability so these are the potential reinforcement materials for the composite to be used for high temperature applications. The wear tests under the dry sliding were performed using pin on steel disc equipment at high load of 5 kg by varying the ambient temperature from 50?C to 300?C . Wear mode changes in the composites is observed beyond 200?C for higher loads due to delamination of oxide layer, which occurs by nucleation of crack in particle matrix interface and its consequent growth. The increase in amount of garnet particulate prevents the loss of material of the composite. The morphological studies of wear track and debris provide clues about the wear mechanism. It is observed that delamination is the primarily cause of the wear loss because of the dominance of the plastic deformation at high temperature.