In Situ Formation of ZrB2 and Its Influence on Wear and Mechanical Properties of ADC12 Alloy Mixed Matrix Composites

Lalta Prasad; Niteesh Kumar; Anshul Yadav; Anil Kumar; Virendra Kumar; Jerzy Winczek

doi:10.3390/ma14092141

In Situ Formation of ZrB₂ and Its Influence on Wear and Mechanical Properties of ADC12 Alloy Mixed Matrix Composites

Materials (Basel). 2021 Apr 23;14(9):2141. doi: 10.3390/ma14092141.

Authors

Lalta Prasad¹, Niteesh Kumar², Anshul Yadav³, Anil Kumar⁴, Virendra Kumar⁴, Jerzy Winczek⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Uttarakhand, Srinagar 246174, Uttarakhand, India.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, GB Pant Institute of Engineering and Technology, Garhwal 246194, Uttarakhand, India.
³ Membrane Science and Separation Technology Division, CSIR-Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute, Bhavnagar 364002, Gujarat, India.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kamla Nehru Institute of Technology, Sultanpur 228118, Uttar Pradesh, India.
⁵ Department of Technology and Automation, Częstochowa University of Technology, 42-201 Częstochowa, Poland.

Abstract

In this work, aluminium alloy ADC12 reinforced with various amounts of ZrB₂ (0 wt.%, 3 wt.%, 6 wt.%, 9 wt.%) were synthesized by an in-situ reaction of molten aluminium with inorganic salts K₂ZrF₆ & KBF_4. XRD, EDAX, and SEM techniques are used for the characterization of the fabricated composite. XRD analysis revealed the successful in situ formation of ZrB₂ in the composite. From the SEM images, it was concluded that the distribution of reinforcement was homogeneous in the composites. A study of mechanical and tribological properties under the dry sliding condition of ZrB₂-reinforced ADC12 alloy has also been carried out. It is seen that there is an increase in tensile strength by 18.8%, hardness by 64.2%, and an increase in wear resistance of the material after reinforcement. The ductility of the material decreased considerably with an increase in the amount of reinforcement. The composite's impact strength decreased by 27.7% because of the addition of hard ZrB₂ particulates.

Keywords: ADC12; ZrB2; mechanical properties; metal matrix composites; wear.