Synthesis, Characterization and Dry Sliding Wear Behavior of In-situ Formed TiAl₃ Precipitate Reinforced A356 Alloy Produced by Mechanical Alloying Method

In this present study, the effect of in-situ formed TiAl₃ and AlTiSi intermetallic phases within A356 aluminum alloy on the dry sliding wear behaviors was investigated. The TiAl₃ and AlTiSi intermetallic phases were obtained by synthesizing A356 aluminum alloy containing 6% titanium for different times (1, 4, 8 and 16h). The cold pressed samples were sintered in an argon atmosphere at 530 °C for one hour (10 °C/min.) and then cooled in the furnace. The sintered samples were synthesized at 550 °C for different times (1, 4, 8 and 16h), and the in-situ aluminum matrix composites (AMCs) were produced. Wear tests of the AMCs were performed under 30 N load and at 1 ms^-1sliding speed for five different sliding distances. As the result of the studies performed, formation of in-situ TiAl₃ and AlTiSi intermetallic phases were detected. With the increase in synthesizing time, the porosity in the structure was found to be reduced. In addition, it was observed that the densities and hardness of the composites increased depending on the synthesizing time. The wear test results revealed that increasing hardness values of A356 + 6% Ti AMCs decreased the weight loss.

Keywords:
aluminum composites; synthesis; wear behavior; mechanical alloying