Improvement in Wear Properties of a Hypereutectic Aluminium Silicon Alloy with Manganese

Improvement in wear properties of rare earth Cerium base hypereutectic Aluminium-Silicon alloy with Manganese modification has been reported in this paper. Wear studies were carried out on cast samples of hypereutectic Aluminium-Silicon alloy (Al-Si) with rare earth Cerium oxide (CeO2) and Manganese (Mn) modification. Final wear properties of rare earth Cerium oxide and Manganese modified hypereutectic Aluminium Silicon alloy were compared with the values of author's previous work on rare earth Cerium oxide modified hypereutectic Aluminium Silicon alloy and hypereutectic Aluminium Silicon base alloy. Rare earth Cerium oxide and Manganese modification in hypereutectic Aluminium Silicon base alloy reduced the wear rates as compared to rare earth Cerium oxide modified hypereutectic Aluminium Silicon alloy and hypereutectic Aluminium Silicon base alloy. A comparison of wear rates at same velocity, load and sliding distance was made between above three different conditions and it was observed that rare earth Cerium oxide and Manganese modified alloy performed with least wear rates. Wear rates for rare earth Cerium oxide and Manganese modified hypereutectic Aluminium Silicon alloy was 6.36 times lesser than wear rate of hypereutectic Aluminium Silicon base alloy and was 2.97 times lesser than rare earth Cerium oxide modified hypereutectic Aluminium Silicon alloy. Wear rates were also calculated for rare earth Cerium oxide and Manganese modified hypereutectic Aluminium Silicon alloy at various velocities ranging from 0.2 m/s to 1.0 m/s at an equal interval of 0.2 m/s. It was noticed that minimum wear occurred at 1.0 m/s velocity and maximum at 0.2 m/s velocity. Further, scanning electron micrographs (SEM) of worn surfaces and wear debris of rare earth Cerium oxide and Manganese modified hypereutectic Aluminium Silicon alloy were compared at low velocity (0.2 m/s) and high velocity (1.0m/s) conditions at constant load (30 N) and sliding distance (500 m). It was observed that worn surface and wear debris of rare earth Cerium oxide and Manganese modified hypereutectic Aluminium Silicon alloy, showed mild oxidative wear irrespective of lower velocity.