Synthesis, Characterization and Dry Sliding Wear Behaviour of Al 7075–MoSi2 Composites Prepared by Stir Casting Technique

Present work aims to develop Al composite reinforced by intermetallic particles. Such composites provide good wear resistance along with less harm to the counterpart in comparison with ceramic-reinforced composites and thereby performance of tribosystem is improved. In the present research work, intermetallic reinforcement molybdenum disilicide (MoSi 2 ) has been used for making Al composites having different particle contents (2, 3, 4 and 5 wt%). The composites were synthesized by stir casting process and characterized by SEM and XRD. Dry sliding wear tests were carried out in a pin-on-disc wear testing machine at different applied loads of 30 N, 60 N and 90 N. Effects of particle content, applied load and sliding distance on density, hardness, volume loss, wear rate and mode of material removal/wear mechanisms have been analysed critically. It has been found that with increase in applied load, mode of material removal changes as ploughing, delamination, crater formation and plastically deformed layers. Particle content and frictional heating affect the wear characteristics. With increase in applied load, performance (wear resistance) of composite has been found to be improved when compared with that of the monolith.