ARTICLE IN PRESS

Tribology International 43 (2010) 414422

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Tribology International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/triboint

Effect of reinforcement size and volume fraction on the abrasive wear

behaviour of AA7075 Al/SiCp P/M compositesA statistical analysis
S. Kumar a,, V. Balasubramanian b
a
b

Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600 036, Tamil Nadu, India
Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar 608 002, Tamil Nadu, India

a r t i c l e in f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 25 August 2007
Received in revised form
2 July 2009
Accepted 3 July 2009
Available online 10 July 2009

In the present study, a new mathematical model was developed to predict the abrasive wear rate of
AA7075 aluminum alloy matrix composites reinforced with SiC particles. Five factors, ve levels, central
composite, rotable design matrix was used to optimise the required number of experiments. The model
was developed by response surface method. Analysis of variance technique was applied to check the
validity of the model. Students t-test was utilised to nd out the signicant factors. The effect of volume
percentage of reinforcement, reinforcement size, applied load, sliding speed and abrasive size on
abrasive wear behaviour was analysed in detail.
& 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Aluminium/SiCp
Abrasive wear
Powder metallurgy
Metal matrix composites

1. Introduction
Because of its high strength to weight ratio aluminum (Al) and
its alloys nd their potential application in various automobile
and aerospace components [1]. These components were subjected
to various tribological conditions and among those, abrasive wear
is more substantial. It was shown [111] that tribological
performance of Al alloys can be improved tremendously by the
addition of silicon carbide particulate (SiCp) and the wear
resistance of composites can be improved with increase in the
volume fraction (vol%) of SiCp. It was the isotropic nature of these
discontinuous metal matrix composites (MMCs) that make them
potentially useful wear-resistant materials.
The effect of reinforcement size and volume fraction on the
abrasive wear was studied by many investigators; Wang et al. [4]
observed that both SiC particulate and SiC whisker reinforcement
composites exhibited greater abrasive wear resistance than the
unreinforced 7091 alloy. It was found that, at constant reinforcement volume fraction, the ratio of the average abrasive penetration depth to the characteristic size of the reinforcement was the
critical parameter controlling the relative abrasive wear resistance
of composites reinforced with SiC. Lee et al. [5] investigated the
effect of sintered porosity, volume fraction and particle size of
silicon carbide particles on the abrasive wear resistance of powder

 Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 44 22575756 (O), +91 44 275 29280 (R);
09443067129 (mobile); fax: +91 44 22574752.
E-mail addresses: skumar@iitm.ac.in, sd_kumar1@yahoo.com (S. Kumar).

0301-679X/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.triboint.2009.07.003

metallurgy Al alloy 6061 matrix composites. Results showed

signicant benecial effect of hard SiCp addition on wear
resistance for the P/M composites. For the composites containing
the same amount of SiCp reinforcements, the wear rates decreased
with increasing SiCp size. Al alloy composites reinforced with large
SiCp size were more effective against abrasive wear than those
reinforced with smaller SiCp size. However, for the higher volume
fraction of SiCp composite, and for the composite with large SiCp
size, the aging effect on the wear rate of the composites was found
to be small. Al-Rubaie et al. [6] also observed the abrasion
resistance of Al increased with an increase in the reinforcement
size at constant volume fraction of SiCp reinforcement.
Similarly, effects of load on the abrasive wear were studied by
many investigators. Ma et al. [7] made an inference that the
abrasive wear rate of the matrix alloy increased rapidly with
increasing load, whereas the abrasive wear rate of the composites
increased slowly. In a study conducted by Das et al. [8] it was
found that at higher applied load, coarser abrasive size, and larger
sliding distance, some of the SiC particles get fractured into ne
particles and scooped off from the wear surface leading to a
higher wear rate. The effect of abrasive particles and their size
were studied by Al-Rubaie et al. [6], two-body abrasion test was
carried out against silicon carbide and alumina abrasives paper
with four different grit sizes and it was shown that SiCp particles
reinforcement improved the abrasion resistance against all the
abrasives used. This improvement generally was higher against
alumina than against silicon carbide. The results also showed that
the abrasion resistance decreased with increasing the relative
abrasive penetration depth, until a critical value; above this limit,

ARTICLE IN PRESS
S. Kumar, V. Balasubramanian / Tribology International 43 (2010) 414422

the abrasion resistance was generally independent of the

penetration depth.
From the literature review, it is understood that the abrasive
wear of Al composites is inuenced by a range of different factors
and such factors may be either metallurgical or service concerned
[9, 10]. Hence it is necessary to know the effects of different factors
and their interaction on the abrasive wear behaviour of Al
composites, where most of the researchers failed to investigate.
Therefore, it was decided to use statistical design of experiment in
the present work and such analysis had been used by very few
researchers in analysing the abrasive wear behaviour of Al/SiC
composites [1113]. But all those statistical analysis was carried out
using four factors, two level, factorial experiment design concept
where these methods utilise only two levels of a factor and has not
taken care of intermediate levels thus the accuracy of the developed
model was limited. Recently, we were successful in developing and
use of ve factors and ve levels factorial experiment design to
study the dry sliding wear behaviour of the MMCs [14]. In this
investigation an attempt was made to develop a mathematical
model to predict abrasive wear rate of AA7075 Al/SiCp composites to
study the effects of ve important factors. Wear scars were also
analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

2. Scheme of investigation
In order to achieve the desired aim, the investigation was
planned in the following sequence:
1. Identifying the predominant factors, which have inuence on
abrasive wear behaviour of MMCs.
2. Fabricating the AA7075 Al/SiCp composites material by
powder metallurgy route.
3. Finding the upper and lower limits of chosen factors.
4. Developing the experimental design matrix.
5. Conducting the experiments as per the design matrix.
6. Developing the mathematical model.
7. Calculating the coefcients of the factors.
8. Checking the adequacy of the developed model by ANOVA
method.
9. Testing the signicance of the coefcients by Students t-test.
10. Analysing the effect of reinforcement size, volume percentage,
applied load, sliding speed and abrasive size on abrasive wear
behaviour.

2.1. Identication of predominant factors

Though at outset wear of composite materials appears to be
simple, the actual process of removal of material is very complex.
This is because of a large number of factors inuences wear [9, 10];
such factors may be concerned with metallurgy (chemical composition, volume percentage and size of the reinforcement, etc.) or
service (i.e. abrasive size and shape, pressure, speed, type of abrasive
particles, etc.) or other contacting factors (lubrication, corrosion,
etc.). From the literature review and the previous work done the
predominant factors that have more inuence on abrasive wear of
AA7075 Al/SiCp composites are identied. They are (i) reinforcement
size (R), (ii) volume fraction of reinforcement (V), (iii) applied load
(P), (iv) sliding speed (N) and (v) abrasive size (A).
2.2. Fabrication of the AA7075 Al/SiCp composites
Matrix chemical composition is presented in Table 1.
Composites containing different volume fraction ranging from

415

Table 1
Chemical composition (wt%) of the AA7075 alloys.
Material
AA7075

Zn
5.6

Mg
2.5

Cu
1.6

Mn
0.4

Fe
0.3

Cr
0.23

Ti
0.20

Si
0.15

Al
Bal

5% to 25% SiCp with different particle size of about 40150 mm

were prepared by a conventional powder metallurgy (P/M)
process, which involved the steps of mixing, cold isostatic
pressing, degassing and sintering. Further details on the
fabrication of these MMCs can be referred to in the previous
work [14]. Cylindrical pin specimens of 12.5 mm diameter and
12.5 mm height were machined to carry out abrasive wear test.
The hardness of the MMCs was measured by applying a load of
0.05 kg using micro hardness tester (Model: 3202; Make: Zwick).
Specimens for microscopic examination were prepared by
adopting standard metallography procedures and Kellers reagent
was used as etchant to reveal the microstructure under an optical
microscope (Model: Versamet-3; Make: Union Opticals, Japan).
2.3. Finding the limits of the factors
Trial experiments were conducted on large number of specimens to nd out the feasible limits of the aforementioned chosen
factors in such a way that the steady state two-body abrasion
response is effective. From the experimental results the following
conditions are established:
(i) The range of the reinforcement size was so chosen based on
the availability.
(ii) If the reinforcement volume fraction was o5%, the abrasive
wear rate was almost equal to the abrasion rate of
unreinforced alloy. If the reinforcement volume fraction was
above 25%, then the three body abrasion was observed.
(iii) The minimum load that can be applied in the wear testing
machine was 52 N; if the applied load was 482 N, then
abrasive bond peeled off.
(iv) If the sliding speed was o0.3 m/s (100 rpm), then wear rate
was negligible; if the sliding speed was 40.94 m/s (300 rpm),
then severe wear occurred.
(v) The range of the abrasive size was chosen in such a way that it
was higher and nearly equal with the reinforcement particles.
By considering all the aforesaid conditions, the feasible limits of
the factors were chosen and they are presented in Table 2. For the
convenience of recording and processing the experimental data,
the upper and lower levels of the factors are coded as +2 and 2,
respectively and the coded values of any intermediate levels can
be calculated using the expression given below [15]:
Xi

2X  Xmax Xmin 
Xmax  Xmin
2

where Xi is the required coded value of a factor of any value X from

Xmin to Xmax; Xmin is the lower level of the factor and Xmax is the
upper level of the factor.
2.4. Developing the experimental design matrix
Owing to slightly wider range of the factors, it was decided to
use a ve level, central composite, rotatable design matrix to
optimise the experimental conditions. Table 3 shows the 32 set of
coded conditions used to form the design matrix. The method of
designing such a matrix is dealt with elsewhere [1416].

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S. Kumar, V. Balasubramanian / Tribology International 43 (2010) 414422

Table 2
Important factors and their levels for abrasive wear.
S. no. Factor

Notation Unit

Reinforcement size R

2
3
4

Volume fraction
Load
Speed

V
P
N

Abrasive size

Mesh
(mm)
vol%
N
rpm
(m/s)

Applied normal load

Levels

12.5mm

(2)

(1)

(0)

(1)

(2)

100
(149)
5
42
100
(0.31)

160
(88)
10
52
150
(0.47)

220
(63)
15
62
200
(0.62)

280
(53)
20
72
250
(0.78)

340
(44)
25
82
300
(0.94)

220
F
(65)

180
M
(80)

120
C
(102)

80
Ec
(162)

Mesh 320
Ef
(mm) (40)

Pin (specimen)

12.5mm

60 mm

Abrasive paper
20 mm

Ef extra ne, Fne, Mmedium, Ccoarse, Ecextra coarse.

Fig. 1. Pin-on-roller conguration.
Table 3
Design matrix and experimental results.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32

R (X1)

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

V (X2)

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

P (X3)

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

N (X4)

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

A (X5)

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0

Abrasive wear
rate, Y (mg/km)
35
46
25
37
43
55
37
49
44
55
36
47
52
62
43
57
34
46
42
32
29
48
31
45
25
43
32
43
40
39
42
48

2.5. Conducting experiments

The abrasive wear test was conducted as per the conditions
dictated by the design matrix (Table 3), using a pin-on-roller type
abrasive testing machine (Model: 5201; Make: Cameron and Plint,
UK). The SiC abrasive paper of different grit size ranges from 25 to
110 mm was pasted over roller surface of 60 mm diameter and
26 mm thickness. The abrasive wear tests were carried out by
placing the specimen normal to roller surface whose sliding speed
was varied between 0.3 and 0.94 m/s (100300 rpm) and a static
normal load of various levels between 40 and 80 N was applied on
the specimen to press it against the roller. A sliding distance of
1 km was kept constant for all the tests and the test was
conducted in dry ambient air condition. During the test the

First order terms

Sum of squares (SS)
Degrees of freedom (d.o.f.)
Mean square (MS)

1819.4
5
363.87

Second order terms

Sum of squares (SS)
Degrees of freedom (d.o.f.)
Mean square (MS)

53.425
15
3.5617

Error terms
Sum of squares (SS)
Degrees of freedom (d.o.f.)
Mean square (MS)

139.33
5
27.867

Lack of t
Sum of squares (SS)
Degrees of freedom (d.o.f.)
Mean square (MS)
Fratio (MS of lack of t)/MS of error terms)
F (6, 5, 0.05) from table
Whether the model is adequate or not?

525.76
6
87.627
3.1445
4.95
Yes, adequate

60
Predicted wear rate values, AWr (mg/km)

Expt. no.

Table 4
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) test results.

Al-SiCp
50
40
30
20
10
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Experimental wear rate values, AWr (mg/km)

Fig. 2. Correlation graph.

abrasive paper was replaced after every 20 min. The schematic

representation of pin-on-roller abrasive wear test rig is shown
in Fig. 1.

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417

As the surface nish of the test specimens will inuence the

wear characteristics of most materials, all the test specimens were
ground on 600-grid emery paper to have uniform standard
surface. The specimens were thoroughly cleaned with acetone in
ultrasonic cleaner before and after the wear test and the weight
losses were measured using an electronic balance having a
resolution of 0.0001 g. Abrasive wear rate, AWr (mg/km), was
calculated by dividing the weight loss with sliding distance [17].
The abrasive wear rate of each specimen was recorded and
presented in Table 3. Even though the experiments were
conducted in a random order, Table 3 shows the standard order
to avoid systematic errors creeping in the results. The wear scars
were analysed using the FEI Quanta 200 scanning electron
microcopy.

The model selected was a second-degree response surface

expressed as follows:

2.6. Developing the mathematical model

Bi 0:04167

Representing the wear rate of the composite materials by AWr,

the response function can be expressed as
AWr f R; V; P; N; A

AWr B0 B1 R B2 V B3 P B4 N B5 A
B11 R2 B22 V 2 B33 P 2 B44 N 2 B55 A2 B12 RV
B13 RP B14 RN B15 RA B23 VP B24 VN B25 VA
B34 PN B35 PA B45 NA

The values of the coefcients were calculated by regression with

the help of the following equations [16, 18]:
X
X
Y  0:0341
Xii Y
4
B0 0:1591
X
Xi Y

Bii 0:03125

X
X
X
Xii Y 0:00284
Xii Y  0:03409
Y

Bij 0:06253

X
Xii Y

100 m

100 m

100 m

100 m

100 m

100 m

Fig. 3. Optical micrographs of the AA7075 Al/SiCp composites with different volume fraction and size of reinforcement taken at 50  : (a), (b) Al with 5 and 25 vol% of 53 mm
SiC, (c), (d) Al with 5 and 25 vol% of 63 mm SiC, (e), (f) Al with 5 and 25 vol% of 88 mm SiC.

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S. Kumar, V. Balasubramanian / Tribology International 43 (2010) 414422

where Xi and Xii are the coded values (as stated in Section 2.4) for
individual and interactive variables, respectively. Y denotes output
response (in this case, abrasive wear rate) of the experiments.
Students t-test [19] was applied to eliminate the signicant
coefcients without sacricing much of the accuracy. After
determining the signicant coefcients, the nal model was
developed including only those coefcients and is given below:
Abrasive wear rate:
AWr 39:091 4:8754R  3:375V 4:6254P 4:042N
2

160

60
40

r 2 explained variation=total variation

2

where AWp is predicated (using the above model) abrasive wear

rate for the given factors; AWe is experimental wear rate value for
the corresponding factors; AW is average of experimental wear
rate values. The co-efcient of correlation r for the above model
is found to be 0.87 which indicates high correlation exists
between experimental values and the predicted values and this
is further supported by the correlation graph shown in Fig. 2.
Thus, the developed mathematical model can be effectively used
to estimate the abrasive wear rate (two-body abrasive wear) of
AA7075 Al/SiCp composites fabricated by P/M technique.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Microstructure and hardness
Fig. 3 shows the microstructure of as-sintered AA7075 Al/SiCp
composites with different volume fractions (5%, 10% and 25%) and
different particle sizes (53, 63 and 88 mm). From the micrographs,
it can be observed that the SiC particles were uniformly
distributed throughout the matrix with small degree of closed
isolated porosity. Fig. 4 gives the measured micro hardness of the
7075 Al/SiCp composites. It shows that the addition of

Ab. wear rate (Awr), mg/km

60

10
15
20
25
Volume fraction of SiCp (V), vol.%

30

P- 40 N,N- 100 rpm,A- 320 mesh

50

Vf-5%
Vf-15%
Vf-25%

40
30
20
10
0
0

60
Ab. wear rate (Awr), mg/km

The adequacy of the developed models was then checked by

using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) technique [1416,18,19].
As per this technique, if the calculated value of the Fratio of the
developed model does not exceed the standard tabulated value of
Fratio for a desired level of condence (say 95%) then the model is
considered to be adequate within the condence limit. ANOVA
test results are presented in Table 4. Further, the coefcient of
correlation r was used to nd how close the predicted and
experimental values lie. The correlation coefcient was calculated
using the following expression [18,19]:

Fig. 4. Hardness results.

100
200
300
Reinforcement size, mesh

400

P- 40 N,N- 100 rpm,A- 180 mesh

50
40
30
20
Vf-5%
Vf-15%
Vf-25%

10
0

60
Ab. wear rate (Awr), mg/km

2.7. Checking the adequacy of the developed model

AWe  AW 2

80

It can be understood from the regression equation that all the

main factors have signicant effect on the abrasive wear
behaviour of these composites. Among the ve main factors, the
volume fraction has negative contribution on the abrasive wear
rate, which clearly indicates that the increase in volume fraction
increases the abrasive wear resistance of the composites. The
other four main factors gives positive contribution, which implies
that each individual factor lowers the wear resistance of the
composites.

X AWp  AW

88 (m)

100

0:87160N 2 0:31250RV  0:3130RA

63 (m)

120

20

1:7085A 1:3716R 0:6216V 0:9966P

0:5625VP  0:5630PN

53 (m)

140
Micro hardness, HV

418

100
200
300
Reinforcement size, mesh

400

P- 40 N,N- 100 rpm,A- 80 mesh

50
40
30
20

Vf-5%
Vf-15%
Vf-25%

10
0

100
200
300
Reinforcement size, mesh
Fig. 5. Effect of reinforcement size on abrasive wear rate.

400

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419

reinforcement increases hardness of the matrix. The developed

model was used to predict the abrasive wear rate for different
combinations of factors and they are presented in graphical form
(Figs. 5, 8, 10, 11).
3.2. Effect of volume fraction and reinforcement size
Fig. 5 shows the inuence of the addition of SiCp on the
abrasive wear behaviour of 7075 Al alloy. It is evident that
increase in the vol% of SiCp increases the wear resistance of
Al alloy. This high wear resistance of composite materials is due
to the presence of SiCp which acts as load-supporting element.
Fig. 6(a) and (b) shows the abraded surface of composites with 5
and 25 vol% of SiCp. It is clear that by increasing the vol% of
reinforcement the degree of abrasion was reduced and Fig. 6(b)
clearly shows the presence of SiCp on the worn surface which
effectively restricts the matrix removal during abrasion. The effect
of SiCp size on abrasive wear rate at different volume fraction is
also shown in Fig. 5. From the graphs, it is evident that the coarser
the SiC particles the lower the abrasion and vice versa. Fig. 7
shows the wear scar of 7075 Al alloy reinforced with 44 mm size of
Fig. 7. Wear scars of Al with 5 vol% of 44 mm SiCp at 42 N, 0.3 m/s (100 rpm) and
220 abrasive mesh.

SiCp. It shows the evidence of deep grooves running parallel to the

sliding direction which further conrms poor wear resistance. As
the SiCp size increases a different wear scar is observed as shown
in Fig. 6(a). The reason is particlematrix interfacial area is larger
for small particle size (higher mesh), so the chances for the
smaller particle to escape from the matrix alloy are high. But for
large size (small mesh), the particles are expected to remain
embedded until the matrix can no longer support them. Hence
coarser particles give a better protection to the matrix when they
slide against abrading media. These results are in agreement with
those obtained by Lee et al. [5]. In general, for the given range of
size and volume fraction, coarser particle size and higher volume
fraction give higher abrasive resistance.

3.3. Effect of applied load

SiC p

Fig. 6. Wear scars of Al with 5 and 25 vol% of 88 mm SiCp (a) and (b), respectively,
at 42 N, 0.3 m/s (100 rpm) and 220 abrasive mesh.

Abrasive wear of 7075 Al/SiCp depends on the reinforcement

size and applied load simultaneously. Fig. 8 shows the effect of
load on wear rate, for different values of volume fraction and size
of the reinforcement. It is clear from the graph as the load
increases the abrasion rate also increases and vice versa. This is
similar to the indentation during hardness measurement; by
increasing the load the depth of penetration of abrasive particle
increases and subsequent sliding will detach the metal from
surface by forming grooves, resulting in more loss of material. But
increase in the vol% of SiCp restricts the deformation or depth of
penetration of abrasive particle, hence the wear rate for higher
volume fraction is lower. Fig. 8(a)(c) also shows that abrasive
wear rate increases drastically at constant high load with decrease
in the size of SiCp. The worn surface of Al/SiCp with 44 and 88 mm
particle size under similar high load is shown in Fig. 9. From
Fig. 9(a), it is evident that the particle pull out (as shown by
arrow) is more predominant with smaller reinforcement and
Fig. 9(b) shows that particle fracture and particle wearing (as
shown by arrow) are dominant for larger reinforcement. Though it
is known that SiCp carries majority of the load applied on the
specimen during wear, increase in load may reduce the bearing
resistance of the SiCp. Thus, at high load when the initial
reinforcement size is larger, it gets fragmented into small
particles during abrasion and restricts further matrix ow, but if

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Ab. wear rate (AWr), mg/km

420

S. Kumar, V. Balasubramanian / Tribology International 43 (2010) 414422

60

R- 100 mesh,N- 100 rpm,A- 320 mesh

Vf-5%
Vf-15%
Vf-25%

50
40
30
20

Pull out

10
0

20

40

60

80

100

Load, N

Ab. wear rate (Awr), mg/km

60

R- 220 mesh,N- 100 rpm,A- 320 mesh

Vf-5%
Vf-15%
Vf-25%

50
40

20
10
0

80
Ab. wear rate (Awr), mg/km

Fracture

30

20

40
60
Load, N

80

100

Worn

R- 340 mesh,N- 100 rpm,A- 320 mesh

70

Vf-5%
Vf-15%
Vf-25%

60
50
40

Fig. 9. Wear scars of Al with 25 vol% of 44 and 88 mm SiCp (a) and (b), respectively,
at 82 N, 0.3 m/s (100 rpm) and 220 abrasive mesh.

30
20
10
0

20

40

60

80

100

Load, N
Fig. 8. Effect of applied load on abrasive wear rate.

the initial reinforcement particle size is small, it will be easily

plowed away by the abrasive particle and results in increased
wear rate. This may be the reason to have a lower wear rate in
Fig. 8(a) when compared to Fig. 8(b) and (c). Abrasive wear rate
also seems to be increased along with both reinforcement size and
volume fraction along the applied load.

3.4. Effect of speed

The effect of sliding speed on the abrasive wear rate is shown
in Fig. 10. It can be observed from the gures that the abrasion rate
is also strongly dependent on the sliding speed. As the sliding
speed increases the abrasion also increases. At high speed, the
frequency of abrasive particle that comes into contact with sliding

surface increases, thus resulting in producing frictional heat. As a

result, micro thermal softening of matrix material takes place
which in turn lowers the bonding effect of SiCp with that of
matrix. Due to its lower bonding strength, SiCp can easily pull out
from the matrix under such sliding condition. From Fig. 10 it is
also clear that as the volume fraction of the SiCp increases the
abrasive wear rate decreases with respect to the speed.
The increase in abrasive wear rate at high speed is attributed to
the thermal softening of the matrix alloy, therefore addition of
SiCp to the Al matrix increases the thermal stability of the matrix.
The degree in thermal stability also depends on the matrix alloy.
At 100 rpm, there was about 41% and 66% reduction in wear rate
with the addition of 15 and 25 vol% of SiCp, respectively. However,
the reduction changes to 24.7% and 39.8% when it slides at
300 rpm with coarse reinforcement size, i.e. as the speed increases
the wear resistance of the composites decreases irrespective of
the volume fraction; this can be attributed to the softening of
matrix at high speed. At high speed, the larger reinforcement
particle size shows better wear resistance when compared to the
smaller one which is similar to the observation of Kwok and Lim
[20, 21]. They observed that at high speed, composites with
smaller SiCp reinforced composites showed poor wear resistance
when compared to larger SiCp reinforced composites.

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S. Kumar, V. Balasubramanian / Tribology International 43 (2010) 414422

45

R- 100 mesh, P- 40 N,A- 320 mesh

Ab. wear rate (Awr), mg/km

Ab. wear rate(Awr), mg/km

60

Vf-5%
Vf-15%
Vf-25%

50
40
30
20
10
0

50

100

150
200
Speed, rpm

250

300

Ab. wear rate (Awr), mg/km

60
Vf-5%
Vf-15%
Vf-25%

50
40
30
20
10
0

Ab. wear rate (Awr), mg/km

80

50

100

150
200
Speed, rpm

250

300

350

Ab. wear rate (Awr), mg/km

Ab. wear rate(Awr), mg/km

R- 220 mesh, P- 40 N,A- 320 mesh

R- 340 mesh, P- 40 N,A- 320 mesh

70

Vf-5%
Vf-15%
Vf-25%

60
50
40
30
20
10
0

50

100

150
200
Speed, rpm

250

300

350

Fig. 10. Effect of sliding speed on abrasive wear rate.

3.5. Effect of abrasive size

The effect of abrasive size for different values of volume
fraction and size of reinforcement is depicted in Fig. 11. From the
graphs, it is inferred that the higher the abrasive mesh size the
lower will be the wear rate and vice versa. When abrasive
particles slide on surface, it removes the material from the surface
by forming grooves. If the size of the abrasive particles increases,
the metal removal from the surface also increases. Fig. 12 shows
the higher magnication on worn surface of composites whose
reinforcement particle size is of 53 mm, smaller than the sliding
coarse abrasive particle (102 mm). It is clear from the wear scar
that reinforcement particle in the surface had been fractured and
micro cut by the sliding abrasive. This may be due to stress carried
by the abrasive particle; for larger abrasive sizes the number of
abrasives per unit area under the abraded surface is less so that
the individual stress in each grain is increased which further leads
to even ploughing of the hard reinforcement material. On the
other hand, this is reverse for smaller abrasive size since these ne

R- 100 mesh, P- 40 N,N- 100 rpm

40
35
30
25
20
15

Vf-5%
Vf-15%
Vf-25%

10
5
0

350

421

45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

50

100

150
200
250
Abrasive size, mesh

300

350

300

350

R- 220 mesh, P- 40 N,N- 100 rpm

Vf-5%
Vf-15%
Vf-25%
0

50

60

100

150
200
250
Abrasive size, mesh

R- 340 mesh, P- 40 N,N- 100 rpm

50
40
30
20

Vf-5%
Vf-15%
Vf-25%

10
0

50

100
150
200
250
Abrasive size, mesh

300

350

Fig. 11. Effect of abrasive size on abrasive wear rate.

particles only support the applied load that results in less abrasion
on the surface. By comparing Fig. 11(a)(c), it can be observed that
SiCp size of 149 mm shows lower wear rate compared to the size of
63 and 44 mm and this may be due to the increase in large
reinforcement size which can give a better protection to the
matrix against abrading particles. Axen et al. [22] also observed
that bre reinforced composites provide higher wear resistance
only under mild abrasive situations, i.e. small and soft abrasives
and low loads. But under coarse and hard abrasives and at high
loads, the wear resistance of those bre reinforced composites
was equal to or, in some cases, even lower than that of the
unreinforced material. In general within the given range of factors,
the lower the ranges of abrasive mesh size, the higher the wear
rate.

4. Conclusions
(i) By using this new mathematical model, the abrasive wear
rate of AlSiCp composites containing different volume
fraction and size of reinforcement can be predicted at 95%
condence level. The accuracy of the predicted values can be

ARTICLE IN PRESS
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S. Kumar, V. Balasubramanian / Tribology International 43 (2010) 414422

References

Fig. 12. Wear scars of Al with 25 vol% of 62 mm SiCp at 52 N, 0.3 m/s (100 rpm) and
120 abrasive mesh size.

improved by considering more number of experimental

conditions.
(ii) The effect of particle size, reinforcement volume fraction,
load, sliding speed and abrasive size on wear rate was
analysed in detail. Composites with larger reinforcement size
and high volume fraction showed improved abrasive wear
resistance as compared to other combinations.
(iii) It is clear that at high load, particle pull out is the dominant
wear mechanism found in composites with ner SiCp;
whereas particle fracture and wearing of SiCp are the
predominant in composites with coarser SiCp.
(iv) It is inferred that the size of abrasive exerted the greatest
effect on abrasive wear, such that the higher the abrasive size,
the higher the wear rate. When the size of reinforcement is
smaller than the abrasive size, the fracture and micro-cutting
of the reinforcement are more dominant.

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