Experimental Investigation of Corrosion Behaviour of Zircon Sand and Molybdenum Disulphide Reinforced ZA-27 Hybrid Metal Matrix Composites
摘要
Owing to its excellent bearing performance and lower cost, ZA-27 alloy has replaced bronze bearings in bushings and bearing applications. In last few decades, material scientists and researchers have used zircon sand and molybdenum disulphide particulates to improve tribological and other mechanical properties of metal matrix composites as compare to alloys. Moreover, microstructural, tribological and other mechanical properties of particulate composites with ZA-27 alloy as matrix have been extensively examined. However, there are limited research works available on corrosion behaviour of the ZA-27-based metal matrix composites reinforced with zircon sand along with molybdenum disulphide particles. Therefore, in the present research work, the corrosion behaviour of ZA-27 alloy reinforced with various wt% of zircon sands and molybdenum disulphide prepared by stir casting method, is studied under various constraints. The fabricated composite samples are immersed for 5 days in a basic environment of seawater and immersed for 3 h in a 2.5, 5, and 7.5 vol% of acidic environment containing HCL solution. The determination of corrosion rate is carried out using loss of weight method. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used to examine microstructure of the composite samples. The experimental results are compared for various reinforcement compositions dispersed in the ZA-27 matrix with the base alloy. It was observed from the investigation that as the percentage composition of zircon sand increased, the weight loss decreased, which in turn increased the corrosion resistance and decreased the corrosion rate.