Tribological Analysis by Concentration Effect of Boron Carbide and Graphite on the Aluminum Composites

Aluminium matrix composites (AMCs) are indispensable materials used extensively in the aerospace and automobile industries and are highly endorsed due to their good mechanical properties. In this paper, various compositions of the AMCs were fabricated, tested and analyzed using pin on disc tribometer test to understand the tribological behaviour and wear mechanism properties. The volume percentages of the Aluminium composite reinforced with boron carbide and graphite present in the form of Al-B4C-Graphite are Al-B4C (5%)-Graphite (5%), Al-B4C (10%)-Graphite (5%), Al-B4C (5%)-Graphite (15%), Al-B4C (10%)-Graphite (15%), Al-B4C (15%)-Graphite (15%). Loads were varied in steps of 10N, from 10N to 50N while the sliding velocity was correspondingly set as 0.7, 1.4 and 2.1m/s. SEM image analysis was conducted to understand surface tribology after wear tests. The composite Al-B4C (15%)-Graphite (15%) exhibited best wear resistance which can be credited to the bearing capacity of boron carbide particles and adherent graphite layer.