Microstructural, Mechanical and Wear Characteristics of Industrial Waste (Brass Slag) Reinforced LM30 Alloy-Based Composite

The present work explained the effect of brass slag reinforcement on the microstructural, mechanical and wear characteristics of Al-Si alloy (LM30) based composite. Composite with the various size range of brass slag reinforcement (fine; 0-100 & mu;m, medium; 100-200 & mu;m and coarse; 200-300 & mu;m) with different concentrations (5, 10, and 15 wt.%) were prepared through stir casting route. Optical micrographs revealed that the brass slag particles are uniformly distributed in the alloy matrix. Furthermore, the experimental density of the composite samples is higher, compared to that of LM30 alloy. As a result, the hyper eutectic LM30 Al-Si alloy shows a remarkable improvement of almost 71% in hardness compared to the 15BF composite, which comprises 15 wt% of fine particle reinforcement. Furthermore, it is observed that the 15 wt.% fine particle reinforced composite specimen exhibits increased yield strength, ultimate tensile strength (UTS), and toughness, with improvements of 45%, 34%, and 76% respectively, in comparison to the base metal. In the SEM investigation of the cracked surface of composites reinforced with brass slag, the failure mode of these composites is determined to be cohesive rupture. Examining the influence of brass slag particles on wear resistance, it is found that the 15BF shows the best wear results. The wear performance of the composites remains close to that of cast iron. This analysis also reveals the formation of a tribo layer and Mechanical mixed layer (MML).