Bonfring International J ournal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol. 2, No.

4, December 2012 143

Tribological Properties of Aluminium 2024 Alloy
Beryl Particulate MMCs
H.B. Bhaskar and Abdul sharief


Abstract--- Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) are
emerging as the most versatile materials for advanced
structural, automotive, aviation, aerospace, marine, defense
applications and other related sectors because of their
excellent combination of properties. In the present
investigation, Al2024-Beryl

composites were fabricated by
liquid metallurgy route by varying Weight Percentage (wt. %)
of reinforcement from 0 wt. % to 10 wt. % in steps of 2 wt. %.
The dry sliding wear tests were conducted to examine the
wear behavior of the Al2024 alloy and its composites. The
sliding wear tests were conducted for various loads, speeds
and sliding distances. The result reveals that wear rates of the
composite is lower than that of the matrix alloy and friction
coefficient was minimum when compared to monolithic alloy.
The incorporation of beryl particles as reinforcement material
in Al2024 alloy improves the tribological characteristics.
Keywords--- MMCs, Al2024, Wear Rate, Beryl, Pin-on-
Disc, Coefficient of Friction

I. INTRODUCTION
LUMINIUM Metal Matrix Composites (AMMCs) are
the new candidate materials used in varieties of
engineering applications. Aluminum and its alloys have been
used as matrix material owing to its wide applications in
industrial sector. To increase the mechanical and tribological
properties, hard reinforcement phase such as particulate, fiber
or whiskers are uniformly distributed. These materials have
emerged as the important class of advanced materials giving
engineers the opportunity to tailor the material properties
according to their needs. Essentially these materials differ
from the conventional engineering materials from the
viewpoint of homogeneity.[1] AMMCs are a class of
composite materials which are having desirable properties like
low density, high specific stiffness, high specific strength,
controlled co efficient of thermal expansion, increased
fa
1
tigue resistance and superior dimensional stability at
elevated temperatures etc. [2]. AMMCs have emerged as the
advanced engineering materials giving engineers the
opportunity to tailor the material properties according to their

H.B. Bhaskar, Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Sri Siddhartha Institute of Technology, Maralur Post, Tumkur-
572105, Karnataka, India. E-mail: bhaskarhbssit@gmail.com
Abdul sharief, Professor and Head, Department of Mechanical
Engineering, P.A. College of Engineering, Mangalore -574153, Karnataka,
India. E-mail:abdulsharief2010@gmail.com

DOI: 10.9756/BIJIEMS.1845

needs. The mechanical and tribological properties of the
matrix material was improved by reinforcing the various
reinforcements ranging from very soft materials like Graphite,
Talc etc., to high hardened ceramic particulates like SiCp,
Al
2
O
3
,

etc., [3]. In recent years, particulate reinforced
aluminum alloy composites fabricated have shown significant
improvement in tribological properties, including sliding wear,
abrasive wear, friction and seizure resistance [4]. An excellent
review on the dry sliding wear of discontinuously reinforced
aluminum composites by Sannino et al., [5] reported about the
principal tribological parameters that control the friction and
wear performance of discontinuously reinforced aluminum
composites. The mechanical and physical factors have been
identified as sliding velocity and normal load whereas the
material factors are volume fraction, type of reinforcement and
size of reinforcement. The volume fractions of reinforcement
have the strongest effect on the wear resistance and have been
studied [6-9]. Many researchers have carried out the work to
increase the wear resistance of MMCs by different types of
reinforcements. The main outcome of these is that the
reinforcement improves the resistance to sliding wear [10-11].
However, the research works on the dry sliding wear of
aluminium alloys containing beryl particles were limited.
Therefore in the present investigation an attempt is made to
study the sliding wear behavior of Al2024-Beryl particulate
composites for different weight percentages of beryl particles.
II. EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS
2.1 Material
The matrix alloy selected for the development of
composite material is Al-Cu-Mg alloy and designated by the
aluminium association as Al2024-T6. The chemical
composition of the matrix material is given in the Table 1.
Beryl, which is naturally occurring and chemically having
berylliumaluminasilicate [Be
3
Al
2
(SiO
3
)
6
] was used as the
reinforcement material. The chemical composition of beryl
particles used for development of the composite are mentioned
in the Table 2.
Table 1: Chemical Composition of Al2024 Alloy (wt.%)


Table 2: Composition of Reinforcement Material (wt.%)

A
Al Cu Fe Mg Mn Si
91.95 4.63 0.35 1.4 0.6 0.41
Ti Ni Zn Cr Pb Sn
0.05 0.01 0.2 0.38 0.04 0.03
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Bonfring International J ournal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol. 2, No. 4, December 2012 144
2.2 Preparation of the Composite
The Al2024 alloy and Al2024-Beryl reinforced composites
were fabricated by liquid metallurgy method. This method is
the most economical to fabricate composites materials. The
matrix material was first superheated to above its melting
temperature by using 5 KW electrical resistance furnace and
preheated beryl particulates were added into molten metal.
The molten metal was stirred for duration of 8 min using a
mechanical stirrer and speed of the stirrer was maintained at
350 rpm. The mixed molten metal at 710C was poured into
the pre-heated cast iron molds. Al2024-Beryl composites were
casted by adding proportionate of weight percentage of
reinforcement from 0 wt.% to 10 wt.% in steps of 2 wt.%.
This liquid metallurgy method has been used for developing
the MMCs by many researchers. [10-16]. The castings were
tested to know the common casting defects using ultrasonic
flaw detector.
2.3 Testing of Composites
The metallographic and hardness tests were carried out on
Al2024 alloy and Al2024 / Beryl reinforced composites as per
ASTM standards. A pin-on-disc apparatus was used to
investigate the dry sliding wear characteristics of the
composite. The wear specimens were machined to the pin size
of diameter 8 mm and height 30 mm and then polished
metallographically as per American Society for Testing and
Materials (ASTM) G99-95 standards. During the test, the pin
was pressed against the rotating counterpart carbon case
hardening steel disc with hardness 60 Rockwell C Hardness by
applying the load and speed. After running through a fixed
sliding distance, the wear and frictional force are tabulated.
The specimen is cleaned with acetone and dried. The each
experiment was repeated thrice and means response values
were considered. Also the wear of the Al2024 alloy and its
composites can be determined by measuring the weight loss in
specimens before and after the test for different load and
speed. The specimens were tested as per the procedure
reported in papers Uyyuru et al., [19] and C.S.Ramesh et al.,
[20].
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Microstructure Analysis
The samples for the microscopic examination were
prepared by standard metallographic procedures etched with
killers agent and examined under optical microscope. Figure
1 (a & b) shows the optical micrograph of as-cast Al2024
alloy and Al2024/4wt.% of beryl particulate composite
respectively. Micrograph indicates the nearly uniform
distribution of the reinforcement particles in the composite.



















Figure 1a: Micrograph of as-cast Al2024 alloy









Figure 1b: Micrograph of as-cast Al2024/4 wt.% of beryl
Composites
3.2 Hardness
The variation of hardness of Al2024 alloy and its
composite materials are shown in the figure 2. This graph
explains the effect of particulate reinforcement on the micro
hardness. The hardness of the Al2024/10wt.% of beryl
composite increased by around 26% as compared to Al2024
matrix alloy. It is observed that with increased content of beryl
in the matrix alloy, there was a significant improvement in the
hardness of the composites. This trend is similar to the result
of other researchers [21-25].









SiO
2
Al
2
O
3
BeO Fe
2
O
3
CaO MgO
68.01 16.74 12.01 1.91 0.86 0.08
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3.3
wt
40
the
Al2
ob
inc
is o
and
beg
def
com
Th
ma
the













Fi




Figure 2: E
Microhardn
3 Wear Chara
The figure 3
.% of reinforc
0rpm for unrei
e influence of
2024-Beryl M
served that, th
creased conten
obvious that th
d the reinforce
ginning of rubb
formation. How
mposites poss
he incorporatio
aterial improve
e unreinforced
igure 3: Wear R
Consta
Effect of Reinf
ness of Al2024
cteristics
shows the var
cement at cons
inforced alloy
f wt.% of rei
MMCs agains
he wear rate of
nts of the reinfo
he reinforcemen
ements acts as
bing and also a
wever, for a g
ess lower wea
on of beryl pa
es the sliding w
matrix materia
Rate for Differ
ant Load of 40N










forcement Con
4 Alloy and its
iation of wear
stant load of 4
and its compos
inforcement o
st a steel co
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orcement in th
nts effectively
s load carrying
acts as inhibito
iven reinforcem
ar rates than t
articles into th
wear resistance
al.

rent wt. % of R
N and Speed 4
and Management
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Science, Vol. 2, NNo. 4, December 20012 145
-
ntent on the
Composites
rate for differ
40N and speed
sites. It illustra
on wear rates
ounterface. It
es decreases w
he matrix alloy
reduces the w
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ors against plas
ment content,
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he Al2024 mat
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Reinforcements
00 rpm
-5056 | 2012 Bo
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onfring
e 4: Variation o
Figure 4 sho
load for a con
mall for a mini
increased up to
nd composite
creases with in
esistance of the
eryl particles an
es. The figure
nt sliding dista
m for matrix m
the sliding dist
sites as well as
ate of the unrei
sites for all slid
forcement incr
es.
re 5: Variation
Constant Lo
of wear rate at d
speed 400 rp
ows the varia
nstant sliding sp
imum applied
o 60 N, the we
increases. The
ncrese in the r
e Al2024 alloy
nd applied loa
e 5 shows the
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the unreinforc
inforced materi
ding distances.
reases, the we
of Wear Rate
oad of 40N and
different loads
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peed of 400rpm
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ear rate of the u
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ad increase we
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d Speed 400 rp
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N and speed
t can be seen
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e composite
Distance at
pm
Bonfring International J ournal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol. 2, No. 4, December 2012 146




















Figure 6: Variation of Wear Rate at Different Sliding Speed at
Constant Load of 40N
The Figure 6 shows the variation of wear rate for different
sliding speeds at constant load of 40N for the unreinforced
alloy and its composites. The wear rate of both unreinforced
alloy and the composites decreases as sliding speed increases
from 1.152 m/s to 3.456 m/s for a load of 40N and further, the
wear rate of the composite decreases as the amount of
reinforcement content increases. The noise and vibration were
observed during the process and transfer of the pin material to
the disc was also observed. The figure 7 shows the variation of
coefficient of friction with sliding speed at constant load. The
coefficient of friction of both unreinforced alloy and the
composites decreases as sliding speed increases from 1.152
m/s to 3.456 m/s for a load of 40N. From the figure 8 it is
observed that the coefficient of friction of the unreinforced
material is more than that of the composites for all different
loads and coefficient of friction increases as the load increase
for matrix alloy and its composites. Further, as the percentage
of reinforcement increases, the coefficient of friction of the
composite decreases. [17]
















Figure 7: Variation of Coefficient of Friction with Sliding
Speed at Constant Load of 40N



















Figure 8: Variation of Coefficient of Friction at Different Load
at Constant Speed 400rpm









Figure 9: SEM of Worn Surface of as-cast Al2024 Alloy









Figure 10: SEM of Worn Surface of as-cast Al2024-6 wt.%
Beryl Composite
Figure 9 and 10 shows the Scanning Electron Micrograph
(SEM) of worn surfaces of as-cast Al2024 alloy and Al2024-6
wt.% Beryl composite respectively. The mechanism of
material removal during wear process of the Al2024 alloy was
by plastic deformation and gouging. The wear resistance of
the composite material is improved due to the presence of hard
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Bonfring International J ournal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol. 2, No. 4, December 2012 147
ISSN 2277-5056 | 2012 Bonfring
reinforcement particles in the matrix material. The wear
process in the composite material is by plastic deformation,
gouging and reinforcement particles will crush to very minute
particles and form a very thin sub surface layer designated as
Mechanically Mixed Layer (MML) which provides protection
to the matrix material. The MML forms a layer between the
work hardened pin and the counter face which withstands high
stresses and is very effective in reducing the sliding wear. It is
evident that the influence of beryl particles will reduce the
cutting and ploughing in the composite material. There are
some slight traces of ploughing to be seen in the matrix area
and the hardness of the particles was the reasons for wear
resistance [18]. It is evident that the composite material
indicates superior wear resistance than that of Al2024 alloy.
This is because of improved hardness and strength of
composites results in excellent wear resistance of the
composite material.
IV. CONCLUSION
The Al2024-Beryl particulate reinforced composites were
successfully developed using liquid metallurgy method. The
Microstructural study clearly reveals nearly uniform
distribution of beryl particulates in the Al2024 matrix alloy.
The micro hardness of composites increases as reinforcement
content increases in the matrix alloy. The incorporation of
beryl particles into the matrix alloy improves the sliding wear
resistance of the composites as compared to the unreinforced
matrix alloy. The wear rate and coefficient of friction of the
composites as well as the unreinforced material increases as
the sliding distance and applied load increases. Further, as the
percentage of reinforcement increases, the wear rate and
coefficient of friction of the composite decreases. The wear
rate and coefficient of friction of both unreinforced alloy and
the composites decreases as the sliding speed increases up to 3
m/s for a load of 40N, after that wear rate and coefficient of
friction slightly increases as the sliding speed increases.
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