Composites: Part B 54 (2013) 146152

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Composites: Part B
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesb

Inuence of B4C on the tribological and mechanical properties

of Al 7075B4C composites
A. Baradeswaran , A. Elaya Perumal
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Anna University, College of Engineering Guindy, Chennai 600 025, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In the present investigation, the inuence of B4C on the mechanical and Tribological behavior of Al 7075
Received 15 February 2013 composites is identied. Al 7075 particle reinforced composites were produced through casting, K2TiF6
Received in revised form 3 May 2013 added as the ux, to overcome the wetting problem between B4C and liquid aluminium metal. The alu-
Accepted 12 May 2013
minium B4C composites thus produced were subsequently subjected to T6 heat treatment. The samples
Available online 20 May 2013
of Al 7075 composites were tested for hardness, tensile, compression, exural strengths and wear behav-
ior. The test results showed increasing hardness of composites compared with the base alloy because of
Keywords:
the presence of the increased ceramic phase. The wear resistance of the composites increased with
A. Metalmatrix composites (MMCs)
B. Wear
increasing content of B4C particles, and the wear rate was signicantly less for the composite material
E. Casting compared to the matrix alloy. A mechanically mixed layer containing oxygen and iron was observed
A. Particle-reinforcement on the surface, and this acted as an effective insulation layer preventing metal to metal contact. The coef-
cient of friction decreased with increased B4C content and reached its minimum at 10 vol% B4C.
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction 6061Al2O3 composites concluded, that a characteristic physical

Metal matrix composites have many potential applications, be-
cause of the unique property combinations that can be achieved
[1,2]. Metal matrix composites (MMCs) have been developed to re-
spond to the demand for materials with high specic strength,
stiffness, and wear resistance [3]. Aluminium is preferred as a ma-
trix material in MMCs because of its low density, easy fabricability,
and good engineering properties. Among the series of aluminium
alloys heat treatable Al 6061 and Al 7075 have been much ex-
plored. Al 6061 alloy is highly corrosion resistant and exhibits
moderate strength and nds many applications in the construc-
tion, automotive and marine elds. Al 7075 possesses very high
tensile strength, higher toughness and are preferred in aerospace
and automobile sectors [4]. The fabrication of MMCs can be
achieved by the accumulation of reinforcement phase to the ma-
trix. Certain suitable methods are powder metallurgy [5], spray
atomization and co-deposition [6,7], plasma spraying [8,9], stir
casting and squeeze casting [10]. In the engineering materials,
the MMCs can be manufactured by a unique technique such as
casting as it is inexpensive and proposes many other options for
materials and processing conditions [11]. Straffelini et al. [12] re-
ported that the matrix hardness has a strong inuence on the dry
sliding wear behavior of Al 6061Al2O3 composites. A Martin
et al. [13] from the studies of the tribological behavior of Al
Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 9710363105.
E-mail address: barathme@yahoo.co.in (A. Baradeswaran).
mechanism is involved in the wear process. Yu et al. [14] demon-
strated the effects of applied load and temperature on the dry slid-
ing wear behavior of the Al 6061SiC composites, and concluded
that the wear rate decreases with increased applied load. Reda
et al. [15] and Clark et al. [16], in their studies on Al 7075 reported,
that preaging at various retrogation temperatures improves the
hardness, tensile properties and electrical resistivity. Kim et al.
[17] concluded that the hardness of aged Al 7075 alloy increases.
Doel and Bowen [18] reported the improved tensile strength and
lower ductility of the Al 7075 reinforced with 5 and 13 lm SiC par-
ticles, than that of unreinforced material. Komai et al. [19] reported
on the superior mechanical properties of Al 7075SiCW composites.
It is thus observed that not enough data is available on the
mechanical and wear resistance of particulate reinforced Al 7075
composites. Particulate reinforced aluminium matrix composites
are alternative materials due to their strength, ductility and tough-
ness as well as their ability to be processed by conventional meth-
ods. AMCs are applied successfully to structural components
largely in automotive and aviation industries. AMCs can be rein-
forced with SiC, Al2O3, B4C, TiC, TiB2, MgO, TiO2 and BN [3], while
many researchers have used SiC and Al2O3 as reinforcing materials.
Very limited research has been conducted on B4C as the reinforce-
ment because of the high cost of B4C powders and complications in
fabrication of composites [20,21].
B4C is an attractive reinforcement material because of its good
chemical and thermal stability. B4C has lower density and higher
hardness compared to Al2O3 and SiC [2225]. AlB4C composites

1359-8368/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2013.05.012
 A. Baradeswaran, A. Elaya Perumal / Composites: Part B 54 (2013) 146152 147

can be processed by low cost casting routes [2629]. But it is dif-
cult to fabricate AlB4C composites by mixing particles into the li-
quid phase, because of the poor wetting between Al and B4C below
1100 C. Besides wetting, controlling of the interface of the AlB4C
is also important in the production of cast AlB4C composites. As
such, in the present work AlB4C composites were processed
through a casting route with the addition of K2TiF6 ux, to form
a reaction layer containing TiC and TiB2 at the interface, to increase
wettability and interface bonding. Thus, the objective of this work
is to investigate the effect of the B4C particles on the mechanical
properties and wear behavior of Al 7075B4C composites.
reinforcement. The aluminium composites were manufactured
with 5, 10, 15 and 20 vol% B4C particles with particle size ranging
from 16 lm to 20 lm were used as the reinforcement. The chem-
ical composition of Al 7075 was analyzed and shown in Table 1.
The base metal weighing 1000 g of aluminium was melted in a
graphite crucible. The temperature control of the molten melt
was taken care of, with thermocouples inserted into the melts to
measure its temperature. The mixture of B4C particles and the
same amount K2TiF6 ux were added into the melt within 4 min

2. Experimental procedure

In this experiment, a commercial grade aluminium alloy Al

7075 was used as the matrix material, with B4C particles as the

Table 1
Chemical composition of AA7075.

Elements Zn Cu Mn Mg Fe Cr Ti Si Al
Weight% 5.4 1.42 0.12 2.42 0.42 0.21 0.11 0.13 Remaining
Fig. 4. Variation of exural strength with varying content of the B4C.

Fig. 1. Variation of hardness with varying content of the B4C.

Fig. 5. Wear rate with varying B4C content.

Fig. 2. Variation of tensile strength with varying content of the B4C.

Fig. 6. Wear rate with varying applied load for Al 7075.

Fig. 3. Variation of compressive strength with varying content of the B4C. Fig. 7. Wear rate with varying applied load for Al 7075B4C composites.
148 A. Baradeswaran, A. Elaya Perumal / Composites: Part B 54 (2013) 146152

Fig. 8. Wear rate with varying sliding distance for 10 N load.

Fig. 9. Wear rate with varying sliding distance for 20 N load.

Fig. 10. Wear rate with varying sliding distance for 30 N load.

Fig. 11. Wear rate with varying sliding distance for 40 N load.
 A. Baradeswaran, A. Elaya Perumal / Composites: Part B 54 (2013) 146152 149

at 850 C with mechanical stirring at 500 rpm. The melt was nally deformation, that contributes to the increase in the compressive
poured into the preheated molds at 850 C casting temperature. strength.
The cast samples were heat treated to the T6 condition. The spec- The three point bending strength test was performed to reveal
imens were prepared for hardness, tensile, compression, exural the fracture behavior of the composites, with varying volume frac-
strengths and wear tests to study the mechanical properties and tion of the B4C particles with the base alloy. Fig. 4 shows the effect
wear behavior of the composites. of B4C on the exural strength of the composites and base alloy. It
The hardness tests were carried out according to ASTM E10-00 is noticed that the exural strength was increased on increasing
standards using Brinell hardness testing machine with a 10 mm the B4C particles. The exural strength of Al 7075 and Al 7075
ball indenter and 500 kg load. The test was conducted at room 10 vol% B4C was 349 MPa and 438 MPa respectively. This indicates
temperature and the measurement of hardness was taken at differ-
ent places on each sample to obtain an average value of hardness.
Tensile tests were conducted as per ASTM E08-8 on the sam-
ples, with the computerised ultimate tensile testing machine
(UTE40) at room temperature (30 C). The compression strength
was conducted as per ASTM E09-9 standard using the UTM
machine.
The exural test was conducted using the universal testing ma-
chine, to determine the exural strength of the composites and
base alloy. Before testing, the specimens were polished metallo-
graphically. Five specimens with a size of 80  11  20 mm3 were
tested with a loading rate of 0.5 mm/min. The average exural
strength of the composites, and base alloy was found.
The wear behavior of the samples was investigated using a pin-
on-disc wear test machine. A OHNS steel with a hardness of 62 HRc
with surface roughness of 0.5 lm was used as the disc. Samples of
6 mm diameter and 15 mm height pins were prepared from the
composites, and then polished metallographically for the wear test.
The tests were conducted at room temperature (30 C) and humid-
ity 6065%, at a sliding speed of 0.6 m/s under 10, 20, 30 and 40 N
applied load, and unlubricated conditions, using a wear track
diameter of 30 mm with a sliding distance, of 1200 m. On comple-
tion of the running through the required sliding distance the spec-
imens were cleaned with acetone, dried and their weights were
determined for ascertaining the weight loss by using an electronic
weighting machine with a resolution of 0.1 mg. The friction coef-
cient was continuously recorded along with the sliding distance.
The worn surfaces were examined using HITACHI-S3400 scanning
electron microscope (SEM).

3. Results and discussion

The wettability problem between B4C and the aluminium alloy

7075 was overcome with the addition of K2TiF6 as the ux. The
addition of titanium in the form of K2TiF6 contributes to remove
the oxide lm from the aluminium surface.
The results of the hardness tests of the AlB4C composites and
base alloy are presented in Fig. 1. The hardness values of 5, 10,
15 and 20 vol% B4C are markedly higher than that of the base alloy.
Due to the increased strain energy the hardness of the composites
is increased at the peripheral of the particles dispersed in the ma-
trix. The tensile results are shown in Fig. 2. The tensile strength has
also been observed to increase on increasing the B4C particle con-
tent, and it is signicantly higher than the strength of the matrix
alloy. The improvement in strength noticed with the addition of
B4C particles, could be due to the induction of higher strength to
the matrix alloy, by offering more resistance to the tensile stresses.
This is because of the transferring of load from the matrix to the
reinforcement increased the tensile strength of composites [30].
Fig. 3. shows that the ultimate compressive strength of the
composites increases with increasing B4C particles, due to the
addition of the hard ceramic particles, which act as the obstacles
to the motion of dislocation. The hard B4C particles act as crack
stoppers or points deecting the growth plane of the main and sec-
ondary cracks, and this changes the growth plane of the cracks. The Fig. 12. SEM micrographs of worn surfaces of (a) Al 7075 (b) Al 707510 vol% B4C
B4C particles exert more restriction on the plastic ow during (c) Al 707515 vol% B4C composites.
150 A. Baradeswaran, A. Elaya Perumal / Composites: Part B 54 (2013) 146152
that the composites showed enough ductility to attain more
strength of 20 volume fraction B4C in the composites which caused
an increase in the exural strength to 497 MPa. The ne boron car-
bide particles prevent the quick expansion of cracks through the
composite and limit the deformation of the composites, which im-
proves the exural strength of the composites.
4. Wear behavior
Fig. 5 shows the wear rate of the composites for varying vol% of
the B4C. The wear rate decreases with increasing vol% of B4C and
touches a minimum at 10 vol% B4C.The wear rate at 10 vol% B4C
is only about 11% of the wear rate for aluminium alloy 7075 mate-
rial. It is observed from the above that the wear behavior of the Al
7075/B4C composites is signicantly improved with reinforcement
of B4C particles, and the wear rate decreases with increasing vol%
of B4C. Due to the increasing volume fraction of the B4C particles
the matrix area in contact with the mating surface was reduced.
The unreinforced aluminium alloy was softer than the B4C rein-
forced composites and due to this the base alloy undergoes heavy
plastic deformation on the surface which causes the high wear rate
of base alloy. The 10 volume fraction of the B4C reinforced compos-
ites showed the greatest wear resistance as compared to other vol-
ume fractions. The effect of applied load on the wear mass loss of
the base alloy and composites had shown in Figs. 6 and 7. The high
wear mass loss is observed in base alloy and minimum wear mass
loss is noticed at 10 volume fraction of B4C composites. The wear
rate increases with increasing applied load due to increasing tem-
perature at higher loads and MML is no longer formed. At a larger
load conditions produces large uncertainties which prevented the
formation of a protective MML [31]. The wear rate increases on
increasing the applied load in all load conditions, and it was the
minimum at 10 volume fraction of B4C.During abrasive wear, the
B4C particles strengthen the aluminium matrix and also protect
the softer matrix. From Figs. 811 it is seen that the wear mass loss
increases on increasing the sliding distance. This eventually proved
that the wear mass loss is the minimum at 10 volume fraction of
the B4C and it is much lower than that of the base alloy. The lower
Fig. 13. EDX spectrum of Al 7075B4C composites.
wear mass loss is noticed in the composites, which indicates the
benecial effect of the addition of B4C particles. This can be attrib-
uted to the hardness of the material which is the dominating factor
affecting the wear surface. The presence of B4C particles increases
the wear resistance of the composite materials that act as the load
bearing elements. The hard B4C particles resist the micro cutting
action of the pin surface effectively, which results in low material
removal from the pin surface.
SEM micrographs in Fig. 12 of the worn surfaces of the com-
posites show a combined wear pattern, narrow grooves and hea-
vy ow of material along the sliding direction, indicating a
greater degree of wear and localized adhesion between the spec-
imen pin surface and the counter body. The worn surfaces were
somewhat similar to that of the unreinforced material alloy,
and mainly characterized by plastic deformation with some
ploughing and cutting effects. The dominant abrasive wear mech-
anism is ploughing, and it is indicated by the worn surface of the
topographies of the composites. The abrasive process is preceded
by a digging out of the B4C particles from the aluminum alloy,
just by ploughing action of the abrasive particles. By increasing
the B4C particles, the plastic deformation on the worn surface
can be signicantly decreased. The worn surface was differenti-
ated by localized grooves and scratches when the particle content
was increased from 10 to 15 volume fraction of B4C, and appar-
ently very small plastic deformation is noticed on the worn sur-
face of the composites.
The presence of oxygen and iron was observed in the EDS
analysis of the worn surfaces as shown in Fig. 13. The presence
of iron conrms the transfer of iron from the counter body to
the worn surface of the pin, while the oxygen indicates the oxi-
dation reaction. It is observed from this, that the transfer and
mechanical mixing of materials have taken place between two
sliding surfaces, leading to the formation of a mechanically
mixed layer on the worn surfaces. Similar observations were also
made by earlier researchers [3235]. The MML acted as an effec-
tive insulation layer between the pin and the disc, preventing
metal to metal contact. The MML is also noticed in the SEM
micrograph in Fig. 14, taken from the cross-section of the wear
track of the composites.
 A. Baradeswaran, A. Elaya Perumal / Composites: Part B 54 (2013) 146152
Fig. 14. Cross sectional SEM micrograph of the wear track showing the presence of
MML.
Fig. 15. Coefcient of friction with varying vol% B4C.
Fig. 15 shows the variation of the coefcient of friction of these
samples for varying vol% B4C. The coefcient of friction decreases
on increasing the vol% of B4C and reaches a minimum of 0.32 at
10 vol% B4C. The B4C particles are used for transforming the load
on the composite surface and also on the sliding surface of the
material. This is the reason for the lower coefcient of friction be-
tween the disc and the pin material of composites which are lower
than that of base alloy.
5. Conclusions
AlB4C composites have been successfully produced by the
casting route, using the K2TiF6 ux to form a reaction layer contain-
ing TiC and TiB2 at the interfaces, for increased wettability and
interfacial bonding.
The hardness of the AlB4C composites was found to increase
on increasing the volume fraction of particulates, because of the in-
crease in the ceramic phase of the matrix alloy. The presence of the
B4C particles acts as an obstacle to the motion of dislocation,
resulting in higher hardness compared to the base alloy.
The ultimate tensile, compression and exural strength have
also been observed to increase on increasing the B4C particle con-
tent, and are signicantly higher than the strength of the base al-
loy. The improved strength noticed with the addition of the B4C
particles could be due to the induction of higher strength to the
matrix alloy, by offering more resistance to the tensile stresses.
The wear resistance of the composites increased on increasing
the B4C particle content. The wear rate is signicantly less for the
151
composites compared to pure matrix material. The wear rate at
10 vol% B4C is only about 11% of the wear rate for the pure matrix
material. A mechanically mixed layer containing oxygen and iron
was found on the surfaces. This MML formed on the worn surface
of the composite is the key role player in controlling the wear
properties of the composites.
The coefcient of friction decreases on increasing the B4C parti-
cle content, and reaches a minimum of 0.32 at 10 vol% B4C.
References
[1] Modi OP, Prasad BK, Yegnewaran AH, Vaidya ML. Dry sliding wear behavior of
squeeze cast aluminium alloy silicon carbide composites. Mater Sci Eng A
1992;151:23544.
[2] Zhang Z, Zhang J, Mai Y. Wear behavior of SiCp/AlSi composites. Wear
1994;176:2317.
[3] Toptan F, Kilicarslan A, Kertil I. The effect of Ti addition on the properties of Al
B4C interface: a microstructural study. Mater Sci Forum 2010;636637:1927.
[4] Veeresh Kumar GB, Rao CSP, Selvaraj N, Bhagyashekar MS. Studies on Al6061
SiC and Al 7075Al 2O3 metal matrix composites. J Miner Mater Charact Eng
2010;99(1):4355.
[5] Bhanu Prasad VV, Prasad KS, Kuruvilla AK, Pandey AB, Bhat BVR, Mahajan YR.
Composite strengthening in 6061 and Al4 Mg alloys. J Mater Sci
1991;26(2):4606.
[6] Wu Y, Lavernia EJ. Proc. Conf. advancements in synthesis and processes,
Toronto, 20-22 October 1992. Toronto: Society for Advancement of Material
and Process Engineering; 1992.
[7] Srivatsan TS, Lavernia EJ. Use of spray techniques to synthesize particulate-
reinforced metal-matrix composites. J Mater Sci 1992;27(22):596581.
[8] Tiwari R, Herman H, Sampath S, Gudmundsson B. Plasma spray consolidation
of high temperature composites. Mater Sci Eng A 1991;144(12):12731.
[9] Berndt CC, Yi JH. Mater Sci 1988;3436:469.
[10] Mortensen A, Jin I. Solidication processing of metal matrix composites. Int
mater Rev 1992;37(28):10128.
[11] Canakci Aykut, Arslan Fazli, Yasar Ibrahim. Pre-treatment process of B4C
particles to improve incorporation into molten AA2014 alloy. J Mater Sci
2007;42:953642.
[12] Straffelini G, Bonollo F, Tiziani A. Inuence of matrix hardness on the sliding
behavior of 20 vol% Al2O3-particulate reinforced 6061 Al metal matrix
composite. Wear 1997;211:1927.
[13] Martin J, Rodriguez J, Llorca J. Temperature effects on the wear behavior of
particulate reinforced Al-based composites. Wear 1999;225229:61520.
[14] Yu Szu Ying, Ishii Hitoshi, Tohgo Keiichiro, Cho Young Tae, Diao Dongfeng.
Temperature dependence of sliding wear behavior in SiC whisker or SiC
particulate reinforced 6061 aluminum alloy composite. Wear 1997;213:218.
[15] Reda Y, Abdel-Karim R, Elmahallawi I. Improvements in mechanical and stress
corrosion cracking properties in Al-alloy 7075 via retrogression and reaging.
Mater Sci Eng A 2008;485(12):46875.
[16] Clark R, Coughran B, Traina I, Hernandez A, Scheck T, Etuk C, et al. On the
correlation of mechanical and physical properties of 7075T6Al alloy. Eng Fail
Anal 2005;12(4):5206.
[17] Kim SW, Kim DY, Kim WG, Woo KD. The study on characteristics of heat
treatment of the direct squeeze cast 7075 wrought Al alloy. Mater Sci Eng A
2001;304306:7216.
[18] Doel TJA, Bowen P. Tensile properties of particulate-reinforced metal matrix
composites. Compos Part A: Appl Sci Manufact 1996;27(8):65565.
[19] Komai K, Minoshima K, Ryoson H. Tensile and fatigue fracture behavior and
water-environment effects in a SiCwhisker/7075aluminum composite.
Compos Sci Technol 1993;46(1):5966.
[20] Khan KB, Kutty TRG, Surappa MK. Hot hardness and indentation creep study
on Al5% Mg alloy matrixB4C particle reinforced composites. Mater Sci Eng A
2006;427:7682.
[21] Zhang H, Ramesh KT, Chin ESC. High strain rate response of aluminium 6092/
B4C composites. Mater Sci Eng A 2004;384:2634.
[22] Aizenshtein M, Froumin N, Shapiro-Tsoref E, Dariel MP, Frage N. Wetting and
interface phenomena in the B4C/(CuBSi) system. Scripta Mater
2005;53:12315.
[23] Jung J, Kang S. Advances in manufacturing boron carbidealuminum
composites. J Am Ceram Soc 2004;87(1):4754.
[24] Zhu X, Dong H, Lu K. Coating different thickness nickelboron nanolayers onto
boroncarbide particles. Surf Coat Technol 2008;202:292734.
[25] Shrestha NK, Kawai M, Saji T. Co-deposition of B4C particles and nickel under
the inuence of a redox-active surfactant and anti-wear property of the
coatings. Surf Coat Technol 2005;200:24149.
[26] Kerti I, Toptan F. Microstructural variations in cast B4C-reinforced aluminium
matrix composites (AMCs). Mater Lett 2008;62:12158.
[27] Zhang Z, Chen X-G, Charette A. Particle distribution and interfacial reactions of
Al7%Si10% B4C die casting composite. J Mater Sci 2007;42:735462.
[28] Shorowordi KM, Laoui T, Haseeb ASMA, Celis JP, Froyen L. Microstructure and
interface characteristics of B4C, SiC and Al2O3 reinforced Al matrix composites:
a comparative study. J Mater Procng Technol 2003;142:73843.
152 A. Baradeswaran, A. Elaya Perumal / Composites: Part B 54 (2013) 146152
[29] Kalaiselvan K, Murugan N, Parameswaran Siva. Production and
characterization of AA6061B4C stir cast composite. Mater Des
2011;32:40049.
[30] Rosenberger MR, Forlerer E, Schvezov CE. Wear behavior of AA1060 reinforced
with alumina under different loads. Wear 2009;266:3569.
[31] Venkataraman B, Sundararajan G. Correlation between the characteristics of
the mechanically mixed layer and wear behavior of aluminium. Wear
2000;245:2238.
[32] Li XY, Tandon KN. Mechanical mixing induced by sliding wear of an AlSi alloy
against M2 steel. Wear 1999;225229:6408.
[33] Lu D, Gu M, Shi Z. Materials transfer and formation of mechanically mixed
layer in dry sliding wear of metal matrix composites against steel. Tribol Lett
1999;6:5761.
[34] Li XY, Tandon KN. Microstructural characterization of mechanically mixed
layer and wear debris in sliding wear of an Al alloy and an Al based composite.
Wear 2000;245:14861.
[35] Rao RN, Das S. Effect of matrix alloy and inuence of SiC particle on the sliding
wear characteristics of aluminium alloy composites. Mater Des
2010;31:12007.