Impact of Alumina Particulates Addition on Hardness and Wear Behaviour of 2014 Al Metal Matrix Composites by Vortex Method

In this study, 2014 Al matrix alloy reinforced with a 9 wt% of alumina (20 μm) particulates composites by novel two stage melt stirring (stir casting) practice used to synthesize, describe and analyze wear behaviour. Adding up of reinforcement was kept at 0 and 9wt%. For each wt. % preheated (i.e., 250°C) alumina particles were introduced in to the molten 2014Al alloy in steps of two by creating a vortex to overcome the clustering effects. Produced composite was examined by SEM analysis in support of exploring the microstructures and chemical components. Additionally characterization of wear studies of cast 2014Al matrix alloy and 2014Al-Al₂O₃ particulate composites were analyzed. After the assessment, it had been seen that there is an improvement in the hardness of the composites prepared and this is due to the incorporation of Al₂O₃ particulates in 2014Al alloy matrix meanwhile. Additionally, the wear rate of all composites prepared diminishes with increase in sliding distance while the wear rate of the composites prepared enhances with increase in load. By using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) the diverse wear mechanism for different test states of various compositions were examined.