Erosion of a converted ceramic coated aluminium alloy

ABSTRACT

Aluminium alloys lack resistance to wear when subjected to erosive conditions. A solution has been the development of ceramic coatings on the surface of the alloy to sustain wear. This work reports the study conducted to evaluate the resistance to abrasion by sand of plates of an aluminium alloy processed to develop ceramic coatings of different thicknesses used in the manufacture of silica sand cores. The samples were subjected to erosion by either silica sand or with the mixture of sand and binder that were blown on the surface of the coated plates to reproduce the conditions to which core moulds are subjected to during sand-core manufacturing. The experimental design contemplated changing the angle of impingement of the plate as well as the pressure and velocity of the sand stream. The results of the tests show the feasibility of replacing traditional tool steel moulds by aluminium coated ones.

KEYWORDS:

• Erosive wear
• plasma electrolytic oxidation
• sand blowing
• aluminium

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Rafael Colás http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6017-7244

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank the support provided by the National Council for Science and Technology (Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, CONACYT), Mexico for the support given to the project Basic Science 238232, and the Programme to Support Scientific and Technological Research (Programa de Apoyo a la Investigación Científica y Tecnologíca, PAICYT) from Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.