Effect of Artificial Ageing on Abrasive Wear and Corrosion Behaviour of Al7075 – Albite Composites

From the past few decades, the application of lightweight materials for automobiles and aerospace components has been improving its fuel efficiency however, the development of high wear resistant materials using monolithic materials such as aluminum and titanium alloys has reached a limit, which lead to development of composite materials. In the present research work the study is made on the influence of Al7075/Albite composites on abrasive wear and corrosion behavior of the Al7075/Albite composites which were fabricated using liquid metallurgy route by varying the albite particulates from 2wt% to 10wt% in steps of 2. The casted specimens were heat treated at solutionizing temperature 470° C for 2 hours followed by quenching in ice media. The quenched specimens were subjected to both natural and artificial ageing. The microstructural analysis clearly shows that uniform distribution of albite particulates in Al7075 matrix alloy. The Hardness, abrasive wear and Corrosion tests were conducted for heat treated composites, the study reveals that the increase in Hardness, wear resistance and decrease in the corrosion rate of heat treated Al7075/Albite composites.