Wear studies of copper-fly ash composite under dry sliding conditions

Copper matrix composites with hard reinforcement offer higher strength and exhibit better wear resistance than copper with no reinforcement addition. The present study investigates about the influence of load, sliding velocity and % of reinforcement on the copper matrix. Composites were prepared with fly ash as reinforcement range from 2.5–10 wt% through the powder metallurgy technique. During the fabrication, the specimens are processed with the compaction pressure of 450 MPa, sintering temperature of 900 °C and sintering time of 90 min. The prepared specimens were tested for the dry sliding wear behaviour under the load range of 10–50 N with the steps of 10 N for the sliding velocities 1, 2 and 3 m s⁻¹ over a distance of 2000 m. The results show that with the increase in percentage reinforcement, wear resistance increases for all the sliding velocities till 30 N load. The change in wear behaviour in higher load and sliding velocity is discussed in detail with the metallurgical examination. (paper)