Investigation of Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Al6061–TiB2 Metal Matrix Composites

Aluminum alloys are commonly used in transportation, manufacturing, and related production fields for commercial applications because they possess high stiffness, strength-to-weight ratio, design flexibility, corrosion, and crack resistance. For this study, an attempt has been made to fabricate and improve the mechanical and sliding wear behavior of in situ–produced aluminum metal matrix composites (MMCs) with the titanium diboride (TiB2) particulate reinforcements by varying weight percentage from zero to six. The addition of TiB2 ceramic particle reinforcements to Al6061 matrix leads to an increase in material density and also results in a significant increase in modulus of the composite and specific strength as they have hardness of 86 HRA and high elastic modulus of 560 GPa. The Brinell hardness values of the composites along with the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) values were witnessed to increase with higher content of ceramic TiB2 because of uniform particle distribution and smaller size of filler at the lower elongation percentage. The microscopic investigations indicated that the change in hardness and UTS with increase in grain boundaries was due to fine interfacial bonding and coarse grain structure. Superior performance in properties was found at 6 wt. % of TiB2. The sliding wear tests were carried out at fixed velocity and at different loads. The wear test results of composites with TiB2 filler showed higher wear resistance because of effective load transfers at matrix ceramic particle interface.