Improving the Wear Behavior of As-Cast B319 Aluminum Alloy Through Graphene Addition
摘要
In this study, B319 aluminum alloy matrix composites with varying amounts of graphene (0, 0.3, and 0.7 wt.%) were fabricated by a novel dispersion approach involving ball milling and spark plasma sintering followed by conventional gravity casting. The friction and wear response of the resultant castings were studied under reciprocating dry sliding conditions. The results suggest that the addition of graphene refined the microstructure of the B319 alloy, leading to improved hardness. Among the tested composites, the B319-0.3 wt.% graphene composite exhibited the best wear response, which was attributed to microstructural refinement, increased alloy hardness, and the formation of a graphene-rich tribolayer at the mating surfaces. The dominant wear mechanisms in the B319 alloy were (i) delamination, (ii) adhesion, and (iii) oxidation, followed by abrasive wear. However, the maginitude of these mechanisms reduced with 0.3 wt.% graphene addition, contributing to an overall improvement in the wear behavior of the B319 alloy.