Processing and Evaluation of Mechanical Properties and Dry Sliding Wear Behavior of AA6061-B4C Composites

The Paper reports a study on the processing and evaluation of Wear behavior and mechanical properties of AA6061 alloy reinforced with B4C particulates of having average particle size of 220 mu m with varying weight percentage of 1%, 2%, 3% & 4% by liquid metallurgical route. Bi potassium hexa flouro titanate (K2TiF6) flux is added to incorporate boron carbide into aluminium melt and to enhance better wettability of B4C particles in the matrix. To study the microstructure of the prepared composites scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) were used. SEM micrographs reveal the homogeneous dispersion of B4C particles in the matrix. The reinforcement dispersion has also been identified with Xray diffraction (XRD). The wear properties of the samples were studied using pin-on disk apparatus. Worn surface were characterized by SEM to understand the wear mechanism exhibited by the prepared composites. The results indicates that adding B4C particulates in AA6061 matrix increases the Wear resistance, hardness and ultimate tensile strength. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.