Sliding Wear of an Al Alloy SiC Whisker Composite

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Abstract
The tribological properties of a well-studied powder metallurgy metal-matrix composite, i.e., 20 volume percent SiC whiskers in 2124-T6 Al alloy matrix, were measured for the three principal orthogonal orientations under dry and lubricated sliding contacts. The sliding wear mechanisms were identified through analyses of wear tracks and subsurface microstructure by scanning and transmission electron microscopy techniques. The results for sliding wear of this 2124 Al-SiC whisker composite indicate a much higher wear when dry than when lubricated, and a strong wear anistropy, which is correlated with the ureal fraction of SiC whiskers on the wear plane. SEM and TEM analyses show direct evidence of adhesive wear through plastic deformation for dry sliding and abrasive wear through plowing and polishing for lubricated sliding.