Wear 250 (2001) 518528

The machinability and tribological characteristics of aluminum alloys with improved elevated temperature properties using rapidly solidied powder
Y.A-H. Mashal a, , M.H. El-Axir a , M.A. Kassem b
b

Department of Production Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Menoa University, Shebin Elkom 32511, Egypt Department of Metallurgical Engineering, Faculty of Petroleum and Mining Engineering, Suez Canal University, Egypt

Abstract In this investigation the tribological characteristics of rapidly solidied Al8Fe4Ce with improved elevated temperature properties were studied. Such characteristics were compared with cast aluminumsilicon alloy and cast zincaluminum alloy. These materials included Al13Si, Zn35Al, Zn35AlSi, Zn35Al3.75Si and Zn35Al5.8Si. The wear rates of all materials were tested on a crossed-cylinders wear machine against 440C stainless steel counterface lapped by random abrasion using diamond paste to the desired average surface roughness. The effects of sliding distance on both the worn volume and the coefcient of friction were examined. The aluminumironcerium alloy (Al8Fe4Ce) showed the lowest wear rate. The experiments were then extended on this material to examine the effect of varying the applied load and sliding speed on its wear rate. It was found that increasing the applied load increased the wear rate while it was slightly sensitive to the change in sliding speed. As the wear results showed that the Al8Fe4Ce alloy has the lowest wear rates, its machinability during turning operation was studied. Statistically-based experimental design (response surface methodology) using central composite second-order rotatable design technique was used to improve the experimentation design without loss of accuracy of the results. The interaction of cutting parameters (cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut) was examined and their effect on the average surface roughness was reported. It was found that employing a combination of high cutting speed and small depth of cut with small feed rate causes a signicant reduction in Ra . The data were represented in three-dimensional and contour graphs for selecting the appropriate machining conditions required to achieve desired values of surface roughness. 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Sliding wear; Aluminum alloys; Machining; Surface roughness

1. Introduction The development of aluminum alloys with improved elevated temperature properties using rapidly solidied powder has been a major research goal of the aerospace industry. Products made by powder metallurgy (PM) techniques have demonstrated excellent mechanical properties such as strength-to-weight ratio, ductility, stresscorrosion resistance and fracture toughness. For high-temperature applications, mechanical properties can be enhanced by stable and nely distributed dispersoids within the matrix material. Rapid solidication allows the addition of transition elements to aluminum, which have low solid-state diffusivity and low equilibrium solid solubility and can, in a suitably processed component, create desirable properties by formation of stable intermetallic dispersoids [1]. Among the most successful developments is the AlFeCe alloy system which owes its elevated temperature
Corresponding author. Fax: +20-40-2230179. E-mail address: sana@link.com (Y.A. Mashal).

strength to ne particles formed during rapid solidication and during processing. The problem of wear arises wherever there is motion between loaded surfaces, and therefore important in engineering practice, often being the major factor governing the life and performance of machine components and causing major annual expense [2]. The wear of aluminum-based alloys and composites is currently receiving more attention [35]. Although production techniques have improved very rapidly in recent years, the conventional metal cutting processes still play an important role in the manufacture of many metal components. Surface roughness is responsible to a considerable extent for the functional properties of engineering surfaces. Machined surface roughness is a factor of great importance in the evaluation of workshop production, and considerable attention is now being focused on its measurement as a factor of quality control [6]. Surface roughness is also known to inuence greatly such properties as wear resistance of friction surfaces [7], contact rigidity of joints and it is one of the most important parameters in affecting mechanical properties. Several attempts were made to predict the surface roughness in

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turning operation by using either mathematical models or the articial network technique [810]. One of the main objectives of the present work is to investigate the tribological characteristics of some aluminum alloys, namely, Al8Fe4Ce, Al13Si, Zn35Al, Zn35AlSi, Zn35Al3.75Si and Zn35Al5.8Si. Another objective of this paper is to study the effect of some machining parameters such as cutting speed, feed rate, and depth of cut during turning operation on the average surface roughness of the machined surface for the alloy that exhibits best tribological characteristics.

2. Experimental details 2.1. Materials Rapidly solidied aluminum alloy Al8Fe4Ce was produced from atomized powder. The powder was cold pressed, compacted, vacuum hot pressed and thermomechanically processed to provide a plate of 15 mm 15 mm 100 mm. The ingot cast Al13Si, Zn35Al, Zn35AlSi, Zn 35Al3.75Si and Zn35Al5.8Si. were produced by melting pure aluminum with the exact amount of master alloys of Al50Si and Zn5Al using a resistance heating furnace. The melt was cast in a cylindrical mold of 12 mm diameter. 2.2. Experimental procedure 2.2.1. Wear and friction experiments The dry wear and friction experiments were performed on a crossed-cylinders wear machine (Fig. 1). This

conguration allows the material under test, in the form of a machined rod of 6.35 mm diameter and approximately 50 mm length to be loaded with its curved surface against that of a rotating counterface ring. The counterface was a 25.4 mm diameter 440C stainless steel cylinder. The counterface surface was prepared to an average surface roughness (Ra ) of 0.2 m by random abrasion of the cylinder on the wear machine using 400-grit SiC paper at 200 rpm followed by lapping using 0.25 m diamond paste on a piece of sylvet cloth at 600 rpm. The surface roughness was measured using a Talysurf-10. The surfaces of the pins and the counterface were cleaned by washing in 1,1,1-trichloroethane followed by degreasing by exposure to the vapor of the same solvent for at least 20 min. After cleaning both the specimens and the counterface, the pin was loaded at the counterface under the desired load and they were run-in at the chosen condition. The short dimension of the elliptical wear scar d was measured using a traveling microscope and the worn volume was determined after different periods of sliding using the following formula: worn volume = 0.049d 4 a b a

where a and b are the radii of the pin and ring, respectively, and d is the short dimension of the wear scar. The short dimension of the wear scar was preferred because debris adhering to the trailing edge of the long dimension sometimes partially obscured the prole of the wear scar in this region. Friction was measured continuously via strain gauges incorporated in the loading arm and connected with an electronic bridge and a digital read-out. The load cell was

Fig. 1. Schematic drawing for the wear apparatus and loading conguration.

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Cutting speed (m/min) 8.790 12.50 12.50 50.20 70.40 Feed rate (mm per revolution) 0.100 0.125 0.180 0.250 0.315 Depth of cut (mm) 0.030 0.050 0.100 0.200 0.320 Clearance angle ( ) 10 Cutting conditions Unlubricated Tool material High speed steel

calibrated using dead weights. Wear measurements were determined at successive time intervals corresponding to sliding distances of about 960 m. The applied load ranged from 2 to 20 N and the sliding speed ranged from 0.1 to 1.5 m/s. Unless otherwise stated, the sliding speed was 0.22 m/s and the applied load was 5 N. 2.2.2. Machining experiments Turning experiments were conducted on a center-lathe machine at different feed rates, cutting speeds and depths of cut. The cutting speed ranged from 8.8 to 70 m/min and feed rates lay between 0.1 and 0.315 mm per revolution. The depth of cut ranged from 0.03 to 0.32 mm. These values of the cutting parameters cover the whole range of the possible variables available on the machine (Table 1).

3. Results and discussion 3.1. Wear results Wear experiments were performed for about 960 m of sliding. Fig. 2 shows the worn volume sliding distance relationship for Al8Fe4Ce (material 1) sliding against 440C stainless steel counterface. It can be seen that the relationship is invariably linear all over the whole range of the experiment which means that the counterface roughness did not change during the experiment. Measuring the average surface roughness (Ra ) of the counterface after the test proved

this. The 440C stainless steel counterface was chosen to minimize the effect of oxide lm layer which is expected to affect the wear results if tool or carbon steel counterface is used [11]. This sort of lm was observed visually when a trial was made to examine material 1 against tool or carbon steel and it was found that the wear dropped markedly and the experiment thus could not be continued. As the oxide lm layer could affect the overall rate of wear, the results in this work were considered only with the stainless steel counterface. The wear rate could be calculated for this test and it was 9 105 mm3 /N m. The friction force was measured continuously during the experiment and the coefcient of friction was calculated and plotted. Fig. 3 exhibits the coefcient of frictionsliding distance relationship for material 1. It can be seen that at the onset of the experiment, the coefcient of friction is about 0.27 and it increases with the sliding distance until it reaches the value of 0.55 after about 50 m of sliding. After that the coefcient of friction tends to be constant towards the end of the test. This trend is expected in the wear of metals because at the early stage of sliding, the coefcient of friction drops due to surface substances [12,13]. After breaking down of the rst surface layer, the value of the coefcient of friction begins to increase until it reaches the steady state value. For Al13Si (material 2), Fig. 4 shows the worn volume sliding distance relationship. It can be noticed that a linear relationship also holds for this material during the whole range of the sliding distance. However, it can be seen that the overall rate of wear is much higher for material 2 by about two orders of magnitude compared with material 1. The calculated wear rate for material 2 gives the value of 2 104 mm3 /N m. For material 2 sliding against 440C stainless steel counterface, Fig. 5 shows the coefcient of frictionsliding distance relationship. It can be seen that the coefcient of friction starts with 0.35 which is higher than in material 1. Despite that, the results follow the same trend. The maximum value of the coefcient of friction for material 2 is

Fig. 2. Variation of worn volume with sliding distance for Al8Fe4Ce at 5 N applied load and 0.22 m/s sliding speed.

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Fig. 3. The coefcient of frictionsliding distance relationship for Al8Fe4Ce.

Fig. 4. Variation of worn volume with sliding distance for Al13Si at 5 N applied load and 0.22 m/s sliding speed.

Fig. 5. The coefcient of frictionsliding distance relationship for Al13Si.

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Fig. 6. Variation of worn volume with sliding distance for Zn35Al at 5 N applied load and 0.22 m/s sliding speed.

about 0.68 which is again higher than in material 1. It is worth to say here that there is no general deterministic relationship between the wear rates of materials and their friction coefcient. In some cases materials that have higher wear rates exhibited lower coefcient of friction and vice versa [14]. Figs. 69 show the worn volume sliding distance relationship for Zn35Al (material 3), Zn35AlSi (material 4), Zn35Al3.75Si (material 5) and Zn35Al5.8Si (material 6), respectively. It can be seen from these gures that a linear relationship also holds for all cases. By increasing the amount of Si in the alloy the overall rate of wear decreases slightly. The wear rates for materials 69 are 1.6 104 , 1.45 104 , 1.35 104 , and 1.25 104 mm3 /N m, respectively. It can be seen from these results that the wear rate of material 1 is the lowest among this group of materials. The results of wear rates for all materials are clearly represented in Fig. 10. The coefcient of friction results

of materials 36 followed the same trend and the values lied between the minimum and maximum values mentioned above. As material 1 exhibited the lowest wear rate among this group, the experiments were extended on this material in different ways. The wear experiments were conducted in different values of the applied load, ranged from 2 to 20 N. It can be seen from Fig. 11 that by increasing the applied load, the overall rate of wear decreases. This could be interpreted in terms of the role of debris on wear. At higher loads consolidated batches of debris come into the contact between the two rubbing surfaces and provide a degree of self-protection to the underlying substrate [15]. Fig. 12 shows the effect of varying the sliding speed on the wear rate for material 1. It can be seen from this gure that the wear rate of material 1 tends to decrease slightly with the sliding speed until about 0.6 m/s of sliding speed. After that it tends to increase slightly again towards the end of the range.

Fig. 7. Variation of worn volume with sliding distance for Zn35AlSi at 5 N applied load and 0.22 m/s sliding speed.

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Fig. 8. Variation of worn volume with sliding distance for Zn35Al3.75Si at 5 N applied load and 0.22 m/s sliding speed.

Fig. 9. Variation of worn volume with sliding distance for Zn35Al5.8Si at 5 N applied load and 0.22 m/s sliding speed.

Fig. 10. The wear rates of the materials examined in this work under 5 N applied load and 0.22 m/s sliding speed: (1) Al8Fe4Ce; (2) Al13Si; (3) Zn35Al; (4) Zn35AlSi; (5) Zn35Al3.75Si; (6) Zn35Al5.8Si.

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Fig. 11. Wear rate as a function of applied load for Al8Fe4Ce at 0.22 m/s sliding speed.

3.2. Machining experimental design In this investigation machining experiments were designed on the basis of the experimental design technique that has been proposed be Box and Hunter [16]. According to the central composite second-order rotatable design, the number of experiments is determined to be 20. The cutting conditions and their experimental design coded numbers are summarized in Table 2 . 3.2.1. Mathematical model The general form of the polynomial response of the second-order is as follows [16]:
k k k

where k is the number of variables while xi and xj are independent variables (cutting conditions). Table 3 shows the machining conditions and the results of the 20 experiments carried out in this research. The value of b coefcients were obtained using a computer program and the results are presented in Table 4. The response surface for the surface roughness, Ra , as a function of the three parameters used in this work is deduced as follows:
2 Ra = 3.7886 0.868x1 + 0.359x2 + 0.419x3 0.135x1 2 2 0.312x2 0.294x3 0.325x1 x2

0.125x1 x2 0.2x2 x3

(2)

response = b0 +
i =1

bi xi +
i =1

bii xi2 +

bij xi xj
j >i

(1)

where x1 , x2 , and x3 are experimental design symbols for cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut, respectively. Analysis of variance was performed to determine the signicant parameters and the validity of the nal equation. To

Fig. 12. Wear rate as a function of sliding speed for Al8Fe4Ce at 5 N applied load.

Y.A-H. Mashal et al. / Wear 250 (2001) 518528 Table 2 Coding of cutting parameters Parameter Code level Lowest (1.682) Cutting speed X1 (m/min) Calculated Used 7.44 8.79 Low (1) 12.05 12.50 0.125 0.125 0.050 0.050 Center (0) 24.27 24.50 0.177 0.180 0.100 0.100 High (1) 48.8 50.2 0.251 0.250 0.199 0.200

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Highest (1.682) 79.0 70.4 0.319 0.315 0.322 0.320

Feed rate X2 (mm per revolution) Calculated 0.098 Used 0.100 Depth of cut X3 (mm) Calculated Used 0.031 0.030

Table 3 Experimental design matrix and observations No. Cutting speed X1 Code level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1.682 1.682 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 m/min 12.5 50.2 12.5 50.2 12.5 50.2 12.5 50.2 8.79 70.4 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 Feed rate X2 Code level 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1.682 1.682 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 mm per revolution 0.125 0.125 0.250 0.250 0.125 0.125 0.250 0.250 0.180 0.180 0.100 0.315 0.180 0.180 0.180 0.180 0.180 0.180 0.180 0.180 Depth of cut X3 Code level 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1.682 1.682 0 0 0 0 0 0 mm 0.050 0.050 0.050 0.050 0.200 0.200 0.200 0.200 0.100 0.100 0.100 0.100 0.030 0.320 0.100 0.100 0.100 0.100 0.100 0.100 2.9 2.7 4.6 2.4 4.7 3.3 4.9 2.9 4.5 0.9 1.1 3.3 1.5 3 4.6 3.9 3.1 3.7 3.9 3.8 Surface roughness (m)

Table 4 Students t-testa for surface roughness Coefcient b0 b1 b2 b3 b11 b22 b33 b12 b13 b23
a

Table 5 F-testa for surface roughness Computed t-value 19.34 6.678 2.760 3.224 1.066 2.463 2.324 2.730 0.736 1.178 Source First-order term Second-order term Lack of t Experimental error Total
a

Value of coefcient 3.789 0.868 0.359 0.419 0.135 0.312 0.294 0.325 0.125 0.200

Sum of squares 14.44 8.581 1.748 1.153 25.93

Degree of freedom 3 6 5 5 19

Mean square 4.8144 1.4301 0.3496 0.2307

F-ratio 20.87 6.199 1.151

The standard critical value of the t-test: t0.05,16 = 2.12.

The standard value of the F-ratio for the signicance level = 0.05 and degrees of freedom 3 and 5 is F0.05,(3,5) = 5.4, at degrees of freedom 6 and 5 is F0.05,(6,5) = 5.0 and at degrees of freedom 5 and 5 it is F0.05,(5,5) = 5.1.

determine the signicant parameters, the Students t-test was used and the results are presented in Table 4. In addition, to check the validity of the nal model the F-ratio test was carried out (Table 5). After deletion of the insignicant

coefcients, the estimated regression equation takes the following nal form: Ra = 3.7886 0.868x1 + 0.359x2 + 0.419x3
2 2 0.312x2 0.294x3 0.325x1 x2

(3)

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Fig. 13. Effect of cutting speed and feed rate on surface roughness for material 1.

3.3. Machining results and discussion Figs. 1315 show three-dimensional curves for the effects of various combinations of the input cutting parameters (cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut) on the average surface roughness of Al8Fe4Ce alloy workpieces that were machined under dry turning conditions. The graphs were constructed from the experimental results using response surface methodology (RSM) and the above nal equation (Eq. (3)). It is worth mentioning that each curve represents the effects of two input parameters while the third parameter was kept constant at level 0 (see Tables 2 and 3). Contour plots can be used to select the proper cutting conditions to give a particular surface roughness. In the following paragraphs, the machining results will be discussed in terms of each of the cutting parameters. 3.3.1. Cutting speed Fig. 13 shows the combined effect of cutting speedfeed rate on Ra and Fig. 14 shows the combined effect of

cutting speeddepth of cut on Ra in three-dimensional curves and contour plots. It can be seen that an increase in cutting speed causes a considerable reduction in the machined average surface roughness Ra . At low cutting speed Ra is very high as a result of discontinuous chip formation. Increasing the cutting speed results in a continuous formation of chips, which leads to considerable reduction in the surface damage and roughness. It can be noticed from these curves that a combination of low cutting speed with high feed rate generates higher Ra . It should be noted that improved surface roughness is obtained at high cutting speeds and low feed rates. However, in order to reduce machining time both the cutting speed and feed rate should be as high as possible. With contour shown in Fig. 13, it is possible to select a combination of feed rate and cutting speed that reduces machining time without increasing the average surface roughness Ra since there is a large number of combinations that produce the same surface roughness. Employing a combination of high cutting speed with small depth of cut could produce the minimum surface roughness.

Fig. 14. Effect of cutting speed and depth of cut on surface roughness for material 1.

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Fig. 15. Effect of feed rate and depth of cut on surface roughness for material 1.

3.3.2. Feed rate Figs. 13 and 15 show three-dimensional curves and contour plots for the combined effect of feed ratecutting speed and feed ratedepth of cut on Ra , respectively. It can be seen from Fig. 13 that machined average surface roughness increases gradually with an increase in feed rate, reaching maximum values in the range from 0.1 to 0.25 mm per revolution. After that it decreases with a further increase in feed rate. It is well known that increasing feed rate will increase the volume of material removed from the workpiece in the form of chips, which in turn, produces an increase in the surface damage and roughness. Fig. 14 shows that combining small feed rate with small depth of cut causes a signicant reduction in machined average surface roughness. 3.3.3. Depth of cut The combined effects of depth of cutcutting speed and depth of cutfeed rate on machined average surface roughness Ra are shown in three-dimensional curves and contour plots in Figs. 14 and 15, respectively. It can be seen that the machined average surface roughness Ra increases with increasing depth of cut. High machined average surface roughness is generated by applying the following: rst, by a combination of high depth of cut with low cutting speed. Second, high machined average surface roughness is generated by a combination of high depth of cut with high feed rate. This is directly attributable to large increase in tool forces [17] that accompany an increase in depth of cut which, in turn, leads to an increase in the surface region plastic deformation, surface damage and then high average surface roughness. Combining small depth of cut with high cutting speed causes a signicant reduction in Ra .

2.

3.

4.

5.

3.75Si and Zn35Al5.8Si were tested against 440C stainless steel counterface and the Al8Fe4Ce material exhibited the highest wear resistance among all. The friction force was measured and the coefcient of friction for Al8Fe4Ce material showed lower values at the on-set and the steady state condition compared with other materials in this work. The wear rates of Al8Fe4Ce material was examined under different applied loads and it was found that increasing the applied load decreases the overall rate of wear. The wear rates of Al8Fe4Ce material was examined using different sliding speeds and it was found that the wear rates change slightly with the sliding speed. The interaction and effects of machining parameters, namely, feed rates, cutting speed and depth of cut on the average surface roughness of Al8Fe4Ce were studied during cutting operation. Response surface methodology was used to improve the experimentation design. The interaction and effect of the cutting parameters on the response (Ra ) were reported. It was found that combining small depth of cut and small feed rates with high cutting speed caused a signicant reduction in Ra .

References
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4. Conclusions 1. The wear of some aluminum and zinc alloys, namely, Al8Fe4Ce, Al13Si, Zn35Al, Zn35AlSi, Zn35Al

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