Effects of YAl2 reinforced particles on the tribological properties of LA143 alloy under dry sliding condition

This research aims to clarify the effects of YAl2 reinforced particles on the dry sliding wear behaviors of Mg-14 wt %Li-3wt%Al alloy (LA143) against GCr15 steel counterpart. From the obtained results, wear resistance of LA143 can be improved by the addition of YAl2 as well as the mechanical properties, and the wear rate can be reduced by 10.5-34.4% owing to the reinforcement of YAl2 particles. With the increase of applied load, the specific wear rate of YAl2/LA143 rises while that of LA143 declines gradually. And the coefficients of friction (COFs) for the two materials gradually decrease resulting from the tribological layer on the wear interface. The wear behaviors are mainly dominated by abrasive wear, accompanied by oxidation wear and delamination. YAl2 particles are beneficial to resisting the damage from GCr15 steel but worsen the COF on the wear surface.