Mechanical and tribological properties of aluminium incorporated with amorphous Ni60Nb40 particles

Abstract

In this paper, development and characterization of pure aluminium (Al) reinforced with metallic amorphous Ni₆₀Nb₄₀ particles has been presented. Ni₆₀Nb₄₀ amorphous alloy reinforcement powder has been incorporated within Al-metal powder to produce Al-Ni₆₀Nb₄₀ composite. The composite has been sintered using bidirectional microwave sintering technique. Structure, indentation/tensile/compressive behaviour and tribological properties of the produced Al-10% Ni₆₀Nb₄₀ have been evaluated. It has been found that the: (i) reinforcement have retained the amorphous structure, (ii) reinforcement have distributed uniformly in the matrix and (iii) interface between the Al-matrix and the amorphous reinforcement has been free of reactive products. Upon comparison of mechanical properties with pure aluminium, the synthesized composite has showed significant enhancement in microhardness, tensile and compressive yield strengths. Under dry sliding wear condition, the composite has showed lower wear rates and lower coefficient of friction. The observed improvement in the composite behaviour has been explained using the processing-microstructure-mechanical properties correlation.