Sliding Wear Studies on Aluminium–Copper Composites

Metal–metal composites are prepared by dispersing copper particulates in an aluminium matrix using stir-cast technique. Behaviour of the same is compared with the alloy having similar composition. Wear behaviour of the alloy in the cast condition is superior to the homogenized condition, though cast structure exhibit low hardness compared to the other. This is attributed to the easy crack propagation along the CuAl2 precipitates in the homogenized condition, compared to the grain boundary in the as-cast structure. Wear properties of the resultant composite are superior to the alloy. Effect of particulate composition is studied by varying the copper concentration between 5 and 15 wt%. Composites with high copper content exhibit better wear resistance than the dilute ones, which is attributed to the increased hardness due to large population of intermetallics.