Abrasive and sliding wear characteristics of Al-Si cast alloys before and after coating by plasma electrolytic oxidation process

Abstract

The wear resistance of a series of Al-Si cast alloys with 5%, 8% and 11% silicon contents have been investigated after spheroidising heat treatments, and after coating these alloys by a plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) process for comparison. The alloys were subjected to wear tests by using SiC and steel counterfaces. The most remarkable observation is the increase in the wear resistance of the 5% Si containing alloy against SiC counterface, which is 70 times. However, the increase in the wear resistance is 5 times in the 11% Si containing alloy under same conditions, and only about 50% increase is observed when the counterface is steel. It is argued that, coating of these alloys by plasma electrolytic oxidation improves the wear resistance more effectively if the silicon content of the alloy is low, since the silicates (or aluminosilicates) in the coating layer has deleterious effect on wear resistance.