Wet erosive wear of alumina and its composites with SiC nano-particles

A study of the room temperature controlled wet erosive wear of monolithic alumina and its composites with nano-sized particles of SiC is presented. The worn surfaces suggest that grain pull-out phenomenon is the dominant mechanism determining the wear rate. Within the composites, a higher strength does not necessarily translate into a higher wear rate. Wet erosive wear depends on grain size, porosity, volume fraction of SiC particles in the composites and possibly the morphology of the grains (for monolithic alumina). For very nearly fully dense materials of about the same grain size, the composites are about 200% more wear-resistant than monolithic alumina. About 5% porous composites are at least 400% more wear-resistant than monolithic alumina of the same level of porosity. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Limited and Techna S.r.l.