Title: Wear behaviour of tungsten carbide particles reinforced copper alloy composites

Authors: B.M. Girish; Basawaraj; B.M. Satish; P.K. Jain

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, East Point College of Engineering and Technology, 'Jnana Prabha', Bidarahalli, Virgonagar Post, Off Old Madras Road, Bangalore-560049, Karnataka, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, East Point College of Engineering and Technology, 'Jnana Prabha', Bidarahalli, Virgonagar Post, Off Old Madras Road, Bangalore-560049, Karnataka, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, East Point College of Engineering and Technology, 'Jnana Prabha', Bidarahalli, Virgonagar Post, Off Old Madras Road, Bangalore-560049, Karnataka, India ' International Advanced Research Center for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials, Balapur Post, Hyderabad-500005, India

Abstract: The wear behaviour of copper alloy (phosphor-bronze) composites was studied as a function of sliding speed and applied loads. Loads of 20 to 160 N in steps of 20 N and linear speeds of 1.25, 1.56, and 1.87 m/s were employed. The results indicated that wear rate of both the composites and the alloy increased with increase in load and sliding speed. However, the composites exhibited lower wear rate than the alloy. It was found that above a critical applied load, there exists a transition from mild to severe wear both in the unreinforced alloy and in the composites. But the transition loads for the composites were much higher than that of the alloy. The transition loads increase with the increase in content of tungsten carbide, but decreases with increase in sliding speeds. The above discussed composites are possible candidate materials for bearing sleeves, piston and cylinder liner, and aircraft brakes applications.

Keywords: phosphor bronze composites; tungsten carbide particles; sliding wear; wear behaviour; reinforced copper alloys; copper alloy composites; wear rate.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMP.2012.051231

International Journal of Microstructure and Materials Properties, 2012 Vol.7 No.6, pp.517 - 531

Published online: 28 Dec 2012 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article