Scuffing Behavior of Al-Si Alloy Modified by Fine Particle Bombarding and Powder Impact Plating Hybrid Surface Treatment

ABSTRACT

The occurrence of scuffing is widely observed on tribological components made of Al-Si alloys. The object of this study is to investigate the scuffing behavior of Al-Si alloy modified by fine particle bombarding (FPB) and powder impact plating (PIP) hybrid surface treatment. FPB treatment, PIP treatment, and hybrid treatment consisting of FPB and PIP were conducted on Al-Si alloy samples. The surface morphology, microstructure, and hardness of the samples were examined. Block-on-ring tests were performed to investigate the scuffing resistance of the samples. The test results show that the scuffing resistance of Al-Si alloy depends on the surface hardness and friction coefficient. Scuffing resistance is improved by FPB treatment, which increases the surface hardness by nanocrystallization and reduces the friction coefficient by decreasing the surface roughness and producing a microdimpled surface. PIP treatment reduces the friction coefficient by generating an Sn coating on the surface of the sample, thereby improving the scuffing resistance. After FPB and PIP hybrid surface treatment, the surface hardness is increased and the friction coefficient is further reduced. Therefore, the sample modified by hybrid surface treatment exhibits the highest scuffing resistance.

KEYWORDS:

• Scuffing
• Al-Si alloy
• nanocrystallization
• surface modification
• friction
• hardness

Funding

This work was supported by the 2014 Doctoral Innovation Funds of Southwest Jiaotong University and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.