Title: Friction and wear performance of Si₃N₄ reinforced AZ91D based composite synthesised by powder metallurgy technique

Authors: Ankita Balikai; Adarsha Hiriyannaiah; R. Keshavamurthy

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, JAIN (Deemed-to-opbe-University) Bangalore, Karnataka, 562121, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, JAIN (Deemed-to-opbe-University) Bangalore, Karnataka, 562121, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering, Bangalore, Karnataka, 560078, India

Abstract: The friction and wear characteristics of silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) reinforced AZ91D magnesium-based metal matrix composites (MMCs) processed using powder metallurgy (P/M) are described in this paper. The Si₃N₄ reinforcement content was varied by adding 2.5 wt% to AZ91D magnesium alloy at four regular intervals. The friction and wear performance of the developed composites were evaluated using standard pin on disc apparatus and the ASTM G99 test procedure. The load was varied from 20 N to 100 N, and the sliding velocity was varied from 0.314 m/s to 1.57 m/s. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies on the worn surfaces were performed for understanding the phenomena involved in the friction and wear of the developed composites. The addition of Si₃N₄ particles to AZ91D alloy from 0 to 10% wt. resulted in a 32% increase in hardness and 45% reduction in coefficient of friction and 54% reduction in wear rate when compared to the AZ91D alloy.

Keywords: AZ91D magnesium-alloy; Si₃N₄; silicon nitride; metal-matrix composites; powder metallurgy; wear; co-efficient of friction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCMSSE.2021.121371

International Journal of Computational Materials Science and Surface Engineering, 2021 Vol.10 No.3/4, pp.129 - 148

Received: 23 Jun 2021
Accepted: 25 Aug 2021
Published online: 07 Mar 2022 *

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