Research ArticleNo Access

INVESTIGATION ON MECHANICAL AND WEAR PROPERTIES OF ZINC-COATED STEEL WIRES REINFORCED LM6 ALUMINIUM ALLOY COMPOSITES BY SQUEEZE CASTING

SAMSON JEROLD SAMUEL CHELLADURAI

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore 641008, India

E-mail Address: samsonjeroldsamuel@skcet.ac.in

Corresponding author.

Search for more papers by this author

and

RAMESH ARTHANARI

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Krishna College of Technology, Coimbatore 641042, India

Search for more papers by this author

https://doi.org/10.1142/S0218625X18501251Cited by:40 (Source: Crossref)

Abstract

Zinc-coated steel wires (1–5 numbers) reinforced in LM6 matrix composites have been prepared by squeeze casting process. Microstructure, hardness, tensile strength, ductility and dry sliding wear behavior of composites have been investigated by varying sliding distance and load. Fracture surface of tensile specimens and worn out surface of wear samples have been examined using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The results reveal that hardness of composites increased with increasing distance from matrix to steel wires. Maximum hardness values of 751 VHN and 611 VHN are observed in steel wire and at the interface of steel wire — aluminium, respectively. Tensile strength of composites increased upto 24% by reinforcing three steel wires in matrix. During the wear test, weight loss, wear rate and coefficient of friction decreased with increasing number of wires embedded in matrix and increased with increasing sliding distance and load. LM6 aluminium alloy reinforced with five numbers of steel wires decreased the weight loss upto 17% as compared to matrix under 40N load and a sliding distance of 2000m. Fracture surface of tensile specimen shows dimple formation in matrix and broken wires are observed in composites. Worn surface of composites shows fine grooves, whereas delamination is observed in matrix. In general, reinforcement of zinc-coated steel wires in LM6 aluminium alloy exhibited better mechanical properties and wear resistance compared to matrix.

Keywords:

References

1. Z. Ahmad , J. Reinf. Plast. Compos. 20 (2001) 921–944. https://doi.org/10.1177/073168401772678896. Web of Science, Google Scholar
2. S. Seshan, A. Guruprasad, M. Prabha and A. Sudhakar , J. Indian Inst. Sci. 76 (1996) 1–14. Google Scholar
3. T. R. Vijayaram, S. Sulaiman, A. M. S. Hamouda and M. H. M. Ahmad , J. Mater. Process. Technol. 178 (2006) 34–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2005.09.026. Web of Science, Google Scholar
4. F. M. Hosking, F. F. Portillo, R. Wunderlin and R. Mehrabian , J. Mater. Sci. 17 (1982) 477–498. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00591483. Web of Science, ADS, Google Scholar
5. S. Long, O. Beffort, C. Cayron and C. Bonjour , Mater. Sci. Eng. A 269 (1999) 175–185. Web of Science, Google Scholar
6. D. Mandal, B. K. Dutta and S. C. Panigrahi , J. Mater. Process. Technol. 198 (2008) 195–201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.06.074. Web of Science, Google Scholar
7. A. Onat, 489 (2010) 119–124. doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2009.09.027. Google Scholar
8. R. Soundararajan, A. Ramesh, N. Mohanraj and N. Parthasarathi , J. Alloys Compd. 685 (2016) 533–545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2016.05.292. Web of Science, Google Scholar
9. K. Sukumaran, K. K. Ravikumar, S. G. K. Pillai et al. 490 (2008) 235–241. doi:10.1016/j.msea.2008.01.054. Google Scholar
10. M. R. Ghomashchi and A. Vikhrov , J. Mater. Process. Technol. 101 (2000) 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0924-0136(99)00291-5. Web of Science, Google Scholar
11. F. A. Girot , J. Reinf. Plast. Compos. 9 (1990) 456–469. https://doi.org/10.1177/073168449000900503. Web of Science, Google Scholar
12. S. Rajagopal, 1 (1981) 3–14. Google Scholar
13. P. Senthil and K. S. Amirthagadeswaran , J. Mech. Sci. Technol. 26 (2012) 1141–1147. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-012-0215-z. Web of Science, Google Scholar
14. P. Vijian and V. P. Arunachalam , Int. J. Adv. Manuf. Technol. 33 (2006) 1122–1127. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-006-0550-2. Web of Science, Google Scholar
15. P. Vijian and V. P. Arunachalam , J. Mater. Process. Technol. 186 (2007) 82–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2006.12.019. Web of Science, Google Scholar
16. D. Mandal, B. K. Dutta and S. C. Panigrahi , J. Mater. Sci. 41 (2006) 4764–4770. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-006-0036-5. Web of Science, ADS, Google Scholar
17. R. Baron, J. Wert, D. Gerard and F. Wawner , J. Mater. Sci. 32 (1997) 6435–6445. Web of Science, ADS, Google Scholar
18. R. B. Bhagat , Composites 19 (1988) 393–399. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-4361(88)90127-9. Google Scholar
19. D. Mandal, B. K. Dutta and S. C. Panigrahi , Mater. Sci. Eng. A 492 (2008) 346–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2008.03.031. Web of Science, Google Scholar
20. V. V. Ganesh, P. K. Tan and M. Gupta , J. Alloys Compd. 315 (2001) 203–210. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0925-8388(00)01261-5. Web of Science, Google Scholar
21. E. Guo, H. Yue, W. Fei and L. Wang , J. Compos. Mater. 46 (2011) 1475–1481. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998311421041. Web of Science, Google Scholar
22. T. Suzuki, H. Umehara and R. Hayashi , J. Mater. Res. 8 (1993) 2–8. Web of Science, Google Scholar
23. C. Tekmen and U. Cocen , J. Compos. Mater. 42 (2008) 1271–1279. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021998308092195. Web of Science, Google Scholar
24. Y. Q. Wang and B. L. Zhou , Compos. Part A Appl. Sci. Manuf. 27 (1996) 1139–1145. https://doi.org/10.1016/1359-835X(96)00072-3. Web of Science, Google Scholar
25. V. V. Ganesh, C. K. Lee and M. Gupta , Mater. Sci. Eng. A 333 (2002) 193–198. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0921-5093(01)01831-7. Web of Science, Google Scholar