Abstract
The effect of size and volume fraction of ceramic particles, with sliding velocity on the wear properties were investigated for the metal matrix composites fabricated by the pressureless infiltration process. The metal matrix composites exhibited about 5.5 - 6 times the wear resistance compared with AC8A alloy at high sliding velocity, and by increasing the particle size and decreasing the volume fraction, the wear resistance was improved. The wear resistance of metal matrix composites and AC8A alloy exhibited different aspects. Wear loss of AC8A alloy increased with sliding velocity, linearly : whereas, metal matrix composites indicated more wear loss than AC8A alloy at the slow velocity region. However, a transition point of wear loss was found at the middle velocity region, which shows the minimum wear loss. Further, wear loss at the high velocity region exhibited nearly the same value as the slow velocity region. In terms of wear mechanism, the metal matrix composites generally exhibited abrasive wear at slow to high sliding velocity； however, AC8A alloy showed abrasive wear at low sliding velocity and adhesive and melt wear at high sliding velocity.
