Erosive wear behaviour of aluminium based composites

Al-MMCs reinforced with short fibres or particles of ceramics such as alumina, titanium diboride and silicon carbide result in composites of high specific strength and stiffness, suitable for advanced engineering applications such as in the aerospace and automotive industries. This paper studies the erosion wear behaviour of Al-based composites reinforced with alumina-fibre and in-situ TiB₂ particles using a water/SiC particles slurry jet. From the results of our experiment, the erosion resistance of reinforced Al-MMCs depends on that of the Al-alloy and the reinforcing ceramics, as well as on the bonding strength between the matrix and ceramic fibres or particles. Some design strategies to enhance the erosion resistance of Al-MMCs reinforced with short fibres and particles have been discussed.