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Center of Excellence for Advanced Materials Processing (CEAMP), School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology (IUST),
Narmak, Tehran 16846-13114, Iran
b
Supplying Automotive Parts Co., Km 12, Karaj Road, Tehran, Iran
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 25 November 2009
Accepted 8 February 2010
Available online 11 February 2010
a b s t r a c t
In the present study, the effect of Fe-rich intermetallics has been investigated on the wear behavior of
eutectic AlSi alloy (LM13). Dry sliding wear tests have been conducted using a pin-on-disk machine
under different normal loads of 18, 51, 74 and 100 N at a constant sliding speed of 0.3 m/s. Addition of
1.2% Fe to the LM13 alloy leads to the formation of the ake like b-intermetallic compounds. These hard
compounds initiate micro cracks and can reduce the wear resistance of the alloy. The addition of Mn converts the ake like b-intermetallic compounds to the star-like a-intermetallics and decreases the detrimental effect of iron. Applying high cooling rate during solidication of the alloy containing Fe and
Mn, resulted to the formation of ner a-intermetallic compounds and improved the wear behavior of
the alloy to a great extent.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Wear is one of the most commonly encountered industrial
problems leading to the replacement of components and assemblies in engineering [1]. Therefore, many efforts have been made
to produce more durable materials and techniques to reduce the
wear of tools and engineering components. These include modication of bulk properties of the materials, surface treatments and
application of coating. Over the last few years, many efforts have
been made to understand the wear behavior of the surfaces in sliding contact and the mechanism, which leads to wear [2]. The applications of aluminium alloys for the machine parts are widely
increasing in the industry. However, little has been reported on
the wear behavior of aluminium and its alloys with the addition
of grain rener and modier [3]. Amongst the commercial aluminium casting alloys, AlSi alloys are the most common alloys having
some attractive characteristics such as high strength to weight ratio, excellent castability and pressure tightness, low coefcient of
thermal expansion, good thermal conductivity, good mechanical
properties, and corrosion resistance [4]. AlSi alloys nd wide
range of applications in marine castings, motor cars and lorry ttings/pistons and engine parts, cylinder blocks and heads, cylinder
liners, axles and wheels, rocker arms, automotive transmission casings, water-cooled manifolds and jackets, piston for the internal
combustion engines, pump parts, high speed rotating parts and
impellers [4,5].
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: shabestari@iust.ac.ir (S.G. Shabestari).
0261-3069/$ - see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.matdes.2010.02.015
The in-service performance of the AlSi alloy castings primarily depends on their microstructures, chemical composition and
the amounts of impurities involved [68]. Iron is always present
in commercial Al alloys and has consistently emerged as the
main impurity element and perhaps the most detrimental to
the mechanical properties of these alloys. This is due mainly
to the precipitation of brittle b-Al5FeSi intermetallics that appear
as needles or plate-like morphologies in the microstructure [9
12].
Recently, Taghiabadi et al. [13] have shown that the addition of
0.7 wt.% Fe increased the hardness and improved the wear resistance of the alloy. Addition of iron up to 2.5 wt.% further increased
the hardness, but decreased the wear resistance of the alloy. In Al
Si piston alloys, iron is a desirable element that enhances the high
temperature properties and thermal stability of the alloy [14,15].
Attempts should be made to modify the negative effects of iron
intermetallics, therefore, by rening and modifying them to the
less deleterious morphologies.
Alloy chemistry is one of the most important factors that inuences the formation of the b-intermetallics. It is well known that
trace addition of suitable neutralizer elements like Mn, Cr, Be, Co,
and Sr can modify the b-phase morphology to the less harmful
forms [912]. Among these, Mn is an effective modier of needle-like intermetallic compounds [16,17]. It has been shown that
manganese addition up to the half of the amount of iron results
to the formation of some Chinese-script or star-like intermetallic
compounds in the matrix such as Al15(Fe,Mn)3Si2 [16], which have
less detrimental effects on the mechanical properties of the alloy
[17].
3519
Alloy code
Si
Cu
Ni
Mg
Zn
Fe
Mn
Al
Base
1.2Fe
1.2FeMn
1.2FeMn-CMa
12.64
12.82
12.94
12.85
1.01
0.96
1.08
0.98
1.10
0.99
1.09
1.01
0.98
0.95
0.91
0.93
0.018
0.016
0.016
0.016
0.41
1.12
1.19
1.15
0.62
0.66
Balance
Balance
Balance
Balance
2. Experimental procedure
Commercial ingots of the Al12Si alloy were used. The chemical
composition of them is given in Table 1. In order to investigate the
Fig. 1. Microstructures of the (a) base alloy, (b) 1.2Fe alloy, (c) 1.2FeMn alloy and (d) 1.2FeMn-CM alloy.
Table 2
Chemical composition of the phases shown in the micrographs of Fig. 1 (at.%).
Alloy code
Phases
Morphology
Base alloy
A
B
C
D
E
Needle-like
Stare-like
Stare-like
1.2Fe
1.2FeMn
1.2FeMn-CM
Atomic percentage
Al
Si
Fe
Mn
Cu
Ni
60.64
76.72
67.04
72.44
73.21
22.04
15.48
10.67
10.67
13.23
12.18
16.88
10.09
9.27
6.71
6.34
10.29
4.09
12.51
0.39
Hardness
(HB)
Volume fraction of
phase (%)
Base alloy
1.2Fe
1.2FeMn
1.2FeMn-CM
83 0.91
91 0.65
91.5 0.71
115 0.93
54.62 23.11
6.07 4.13
6.8 3.53
5.8 2.68
30.42 13.95
18.49 10.62
-3
-1
Alloy code
10
Table 3
Hardness, volume fraction, and the average maximum size of Fe-rich intermetallics
phases.
Wear Rate, mm . m . 10
3520
base
1.2Fe
1.2FeMn
1.2FeMn-CM
0
18
51
74
100
Load, N
Fig. 2. Variation of wear rate versus applied load for different alloys.
cooled in the furnace to 750 C. The melt was stirred and degassed
using Foseco 600 tablet for 10 min before pouring. Final pouring
Fig. 3. SEM micrographs of worn surfaces (a) base alloy at applied loads of 18 N, (b) 1.2FeMn alloy at applied loads of 18 N, and (c) 1.2FeMn-CM alloy at 100 N.
Base alloy
1.2FeMn
Atomic percentage
O
Al
Si
Fe
Ni
Cu
41.93
34.48
48.19
43.28
3.57
5.70
5.03
16.21
3521
The hardness of all samples was measured using a Brinell hardness tester with the load of 31.25 kgf. The effect of alloy chemistry
on the microstructure was studied using a scanning electron
microscope equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS). The volume fraction of the iron-rich intermetallic was related to the area fraction which was measured by the quantitative
metallography using a computer-assisted Buhler Omnimet image
analysis system. Dry sliding was carried out at a relative humidity
of 40 2% at room temperature (25 C) against the counterface of a
hardened and polished steel disk with HRC 6265 hardness. The
pins, 5 mm 5 mm, were in a conformal contact with the disk.
The wear tests were conducted under nominal loads of 18, 51, 74
and 100 N, at a constant sliding speed of 0.3 ms 1 for a sliding distance of 1000 m. Each test was repeated three times at a given load
and sliding velocity.
Fig. 4. Longitudinal cross-section of the worn surface of 1.2FeMn alloy at an applied load of (a) 18 N, (b) 100 N, and (c) enlarged view of the marked region in the micrograph
(b).
3522
Fig. 5. Longitudinal cross-section of the worn surfaces at the applied load of 100 N, showing mechanical mixed layer, (a) base alloy and (b) 1.2FeMn alloy.
Fig. 6. (a) SEM micrographs of wear debris of base alloy at applied loads of 18 N, and (b) enlarged view of the marked region A in the micrograph (a).
3523
Atomic percentage
O
Al
Si
Fe
Ni
Cu
48.52
36.91
39.50
43.00
4.37
6.47
5.59
5.41
Fig. 7. (a) SEM micrographs of wear debris of 1.2FeMn-CM alloy at applied loads of 51 N, and (b) enlarged view of the marked region B in the micrograph (a).
3524