Sliding wear behavior of AM60 alloys with alloyed lanthanum and cerium (LC) mixed rare earths

摘要

This study investigates the microstructure and sliding wear behavior of AM60 alloys with different amounts of lanthanum and cerium mixed rare earths added(0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 wt%). The microstructure observation and EDS analysis demonstrated that adding La and Ce in AM60 alloy resulted in the formation of a new phase Al_(11)(La, Ce)3 and minimized the precipitation of Mg_(17)Al_(12) phase. The grain size was refined. The worn surface was covered with long continuous grooves parallel to the sliding direction. AM60 alloys with La and Ce added had a lower wear rate and friction coefficient than AM60 alloys without La and Ce addition. This is attributed to the formation of uniformly distributed, finer and hardxer Al_(11) (La, Ce)_3 precipitates. The hardness and wear resistance of AM60 alloy were observed to peak at 1 wt. % La and Ce.