High-Temperature Tribological Studies on Hot-Forged Al6061–TiB2 In Situ Composites

Abstract

The present investigation deals with the tribological behavior of high-temperature hot-forged Al6061–TiB<inf>2</inf> in situ composites. Three samples of Al6061–TiB<inf>2</inf> in situ composites were prepared with the variation in the in situ TiB<inf>2</inf> particles. An in situ technique forms TiB<inf>2</inf> particles by facilitating a reaction between Al–3%B and Al–10%Ti parent metals in the Al6061 melt at 800 °C. Further, approximately 5 wt% and 10 wt% TiB<inf>2</inf> particles were created in the Al6061 composite using suitable quantities of parent alloys. At 500 °C, the Al6061 and its in situ composites were subjected to hot forging, and about 50% reduction is employed. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) and optical microscopy analysis were conducted to check the TiB<inf>2</inf> particle dispersion and worn surfaces in the in situ composites. The TiB<inf>2</inf> particle dispersion is found to be fairly uniform throughout the Al6061 matrix with minimal clustering. The results indicate that the friction coefficient increases initially when the temperature increases and then declines due to the oxides in the debris released from the top surfaces of the samples. The results show that the increase in the TiB<inf>2</inf> content in the Al6061–TiB<inf>2</inf> composites increases the composite wear rate. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.