The effect of boron nitride (h-BN) and silicon carbide (SiC) on the microstructure and wear behavior of ZA40/SiC/h-BN hybrid composites processed by hot pressing

Abstract

Within the scope of this study, silicon carbide (SiC) and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) powders were added as reinforcement into zinc-aluminum (ZA40) matrix powders, and the powder metallurgy (PM) method, which is an advanced technique in material production, was used to fabricate ZA40/SiC/h-BN hybrid composites. In the milling process, the as-received powders were mechanically milled at 400 rpm under a protective argon atmosphere for 2 h at room temperature. The hybrid composite powders were consolidated under 700 MPa pressure at 515◦C for 3 h by hot pressing. Weight losses, friction coefficients, and wear rates were calculated by traveling 100 and 200 m at 250 rpm in a ball-on-disc abrasion test setup under 5 and 10 N loads. According to the results, it was seen that SiC and increased h-BN reinforcement changed the mechanical and physical properties of the composites and made significant contributions to the wear resistance and load-carrying capacity.