Title: Micro hardness and corrosion properties of A390 alloy + x vol.% zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) composites processed by P/M method

Authors: S. Karthikeyan; M. Subramanian; Ashoke Ghosh; M. Prashanth; R. Karunanithi

Addresses: Department of Automobile Engineering, B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, 600048, India ' Department of Automobile Engineering, B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, 600048, India ' Department of Aerospace Engineering, B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, 600048, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, 600048, India ' Department of Aerospace Engineering, B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, 600048, India

Abstract: A390+X vol.% ZrO2 (X = 5, 10, 15) composites have been fabricated through P/M technique. The mixed aluminium alloy and zirconium oxide powders were cold compacted at 200 MPa and sintered at 580°C for 3 h. The influence of ZrO2 reinforcement on microstructure, physical, and electrochemical behaviour of fabricated composites were examined. The results convey that the composites have relative density of 99%. Potentio dynamic polarisation studies on A390 and A390+Xvol.% ZrO2 composites in 3.5 wt.% of NaCl solution revealed that the addition of ZrO2 in Al alloy shifts the corrosion potentials towards positive direction. The increase of ZrO2 content in A390 alloy increases the corrosion current density due to the expansion in particle-matrix interface area. The research goal is to develop a new metal matrix composite material, by powder metallurgy (P/M) technique and experimentally investigate the various mechanical, physical properties and corrosion study, for ensuring that the developed material could be used in pistons.

Keywords: A390 alloy; zirconium dioxide; corrosion; powder metallurgy techniques; composites; piston material; micro structural analysis; SEM; scanning electron microscopy; XRD; X-ray diffraction; surface properties.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMP.2019.103174

International Journal of Microstructure and Materials Properties, 2019 Vol.14 No.6, pp.511 - 523

Received: 05 Jan 2019
Accepted: 22 May 2019

Published online: 21 Oct 2019 *

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