Effect of microstructure on wear behaviour of aluminium 2014 (Al2014)

Abstract

The paper investigates the effect of ageing on the hardness and wearing of Al2014. Precipitation hardening and ageing were carried out on the samples. The samples were solution treated at 550°C and were naturally aged. Quenching was carried out using ice-brine solution. Vickers Hardness were taken at regular intervals till 900 hours. The peak hardness value of the natural aged sample was found to be 86HV (93 hours) as compared to the untreated sample (32.4HV) The wear tests were conducted at 10N, 500rpm for 30 minutes. After the tribo test it was observed that the coefficient of friction increased by 7.06% in the naturally aged sample, but the wear rate in case of as-received samples was 46% higher than that of the naturally aged sample. The change in the microstructure of Al2014 is the primary reason for the difference in wear rate of the samples. The present work will help to understand the influence of heat treatment of aluminium alloy on wear properties.