Tribological characteristics of Al-Mg binary alloy and Al-Mg-Sc ternary alloy

摘要

Aluminium, being light weighted, is preferred for aerospace, automobile and marine industries nowadays. But the tribological or wear resistance property of aluminium is a major obstacle for its efficient growth. As a result aluminium is often alloyed with various elements in order to improve its tribological property along with its mechanical properties. Zinc, magnesium, scandium, zirconium, titanium, etc. are commonly used alloying elements. In this research, aluminium is alloyed with 4% magnesium and 6% magnesium for producing the binary alloy. For the ternary alloy 6% magnesium and 0.4% scandium and 0.6% scandium are alloyed with aluminium. The wear rate of these two alloys is measured by pin on disk method. Furthermore the wear mechanism acting in each case is also investigated with the help of an Optical Microscope.