Dry sliding wear behaviour of Al-12Si-4Mg alloy with cerium addition

摘要

The purpose of this work is to understand the effect of cerium addition on wear resistance behaviour of as-cast alloys. Al-12Si-4 Mg alloys with 1-5 wt% cerium addition were prepared using the casting technique. A sliding wear test was carried out under applied loads of 10 N, 30 N and 50 N at a fixed sliding speed of 1 m/s using a pin-on-disc configuration. The wear test was conducted in dry conditions at room temperature of ～25 ℃. Detailed analysis of the microstructure, worn surface, collected debris and microhardness was undertaken in order to investigate the differences between the as-cast alloys with different levels of cerium addition. The addition of 1-5 wt% cerium was found to lead to the precipitation of intermetallic phases (Al-Ce), resulting a needle-like structures. Increasing cerium content up to 2 wt% improved both wear resistance and microhardness of as-cast alloys. Addition of more than 2 wt% cerium, however, led to a decrease in microhardness, resulting in lower wear resistance of the alloys. Moderate wear was observed at all loads, with specific wear rates (K') ranging from 6.82 × 10~(-5) with 2 wt% Ce at applied load of 50 N to 21.48 × 10~(-5) mm~3/N m without added Ce at an applied load of 10 N. Based on K' ranges, the as-cast alloys exhibited moderate wear regimes, and the mechanism of wear is a combination of abrasion and adhesion. Alloy containing 2 wt% Ce, with the highest hardness and lowest K' value, showed the greatest wear resistance