Studying the Wear Characteristics of Aluminium Alloys (Al2024 and Al7075) at Different Wear Conditions

In this study, a high temperature tribometer machine of pin-on-disc was designed and manufactured to examine the wear characteristics of 2024 and 7075 aluminium alloys at different wear conditions such as temperature, load, and sliding distance. The wear experiments were
carried out in a dry sliding condition at temperatures ranging from 25 to 225 °C, loads of 10, 20, and 30 N, and sliding distances of 1570, 2356, and 3141 m, with constant sliding speed of 2.6 m/s throughout the testing. The results showed that when the temperature increases, the wear due to volume loss also increases. An increase in sliding distance and load increases the wear. The Microscopic analysis and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) of the specimens reveals that wear traces are mostly abrasive, with just small traces of adhesive wear visibility. Furthermore, the wear process switched from mild into delamination and subsequently to severe metal wear as the load and temperature continued to increase. Because of the softening impacts of the high operating temperature, the wear mechanism takes the form of massive removal of material in a sliding direction. Due to the higher hardness of Al7075, it has higher wear resistance and lower wear (volume loss) compared to Al2024.