Enhanced tribological properties of SiC reinforced copper metal matrix composites

Copper based metal matrix composite (CMMC) attracts the multiple applications due to their good electrical, thermal and mechanical properties. In the present study, new composite of Cu–SiC for different compositions were fabricated at sintering temperature of 950°C by using powder metallurgy technique followed by characterization of physical, mechanical and metallurgical properties of the fabricated composites. Tribological study was carried out using a pin-on-disc tribometer to determine wear and coefficient of friction. The composite samples '(1-x) Cu - xSiC' were prepared by powder metallurgy technique with x = 10, 15 and 20% volume fraction of SiC. Anti-wear properties were tested under the varying loads of 10-30N and sliding speed of 0.5 m s⁻¹-1.5 m s⁻¹. The hardness and tensile strength of the samples was found to increase by 48% and 24% respectively by adding 20% of SiC. The experimental results revealed some interesting facts on the tribological behavior of fabricated composite against steel disk including oxidative wear, abrasive wear and presence of mechanically mixed layer. Wear is reduced from 45% to 77%, whereas friction reduced to 25% to 44%, due to the addition of SiC from 10% to 20% respectively. Therefore the results indicate that the SiC reinforcement enhances the wear resistance capacity and reduces the coefficient of friction in Cu–SiC composite. (paper)