Investigation of the abrasive wear behaviour of ZA-27 alloy and CuSn10 bronze

In this study, abrasive wear behaviours of ZA-27 alloy and CuSn10 bronze were investigated using a purpose-built wear tester. The ZA-27 alloy was produced by permanent mould casting. The abrasive SiC particles having 63 μm grit size was added to the lubricant oil. The wear rate and friction coefficient of alloys were determined at the different test conditions such as sliding distance, applied load, linear velocity and percentage SiC weight content. The wear surfaces of alloys were examined using SEM and EDS analysis. The results showed that the wear rate of alloys decreased with the increasing of applied load and increased with the increasing linear velocity and abrasive SiC content. It was found that the SiC particle fracture was an important mechanism determining the friction and the wear rate of alloys. CuSn10 bronze showed higher wear resistance than ZA-27 alloy under abrasive test conditions except at high linear velocities.