Microstructures and dry sliding wear properties of ZrB2/A356 composites synthesized by magneto-chemistry in situ reaction

In situ A356-x%PVF (particle volume fraction) ZrB₂ (x=1, 3, 5) composites were prepared via magneto-chemistry in situ reaction and the dry sliding wear properties of the composites were investigated. The experimental results show that ZrB₂ reinforcement particle is obtained and its morphology mainly present in spherical and regular hexagon. Wear test results show that the values of wear weight loss of the composites decrease with the increase of value under a given sliding time and a certain load of 60 N. Especially, when x=5, the weight loss of the as-prepared composite is 43.1 mg, which is only 36.4% to that of A356 alloy, 118 mg. The wear mechanism is changed from adhesion wear to adhesion wear and abrasive wear and then to abrasive wear with the increase of x value.