Investigation on dry sliding wear behavior of Mg/BN nanocomposites

The present research objective is to investigate the effect of boron nitride nanoparticles reinforcement on dry sliding wear behavior of pure Magnesium and magnesium nanocomposites. The fabricated nanocomposites contains varied percentages of boron nitride such as 0% (pure Mg), 0.5%, 1.5% and 2.5% were synthesized by using powder metallurgy technique and followed by a hot working process called hot extrusion. The pin on disk equipment was used for conducting the wear tests for traditional loads of 5 N, 7 N and 10 N at different sliding speeds of 0.6, 0.9 and 1.2 m/s against the steel disk at room temperature. For all traditional loads and sliding speeds, the changes in wear rate and friction co-efficient (µ) with respect to sliding distances were observed and analyzed. The wear characteristics are observed with the help of scanning electron microscopy under given test conditions. To investigate dominant wear mechanisms for various test conditions, the morphologies of all worn composites surfaces were analyzed. Final results show that, for all nanocomposites the wear level raises with respect to the sliding speeds and loads. Magnesium reinforced with 0.5% boron nitride shows lower wear rates and low friction coefficient values compare with magnesium reinforced with 1.5% boron nitride and 2.5% boron nitride nanocomposites. Keywords: Metal matrix composites, Wear, Friction coefficient, Wear mechanisms