Investigation of interfacial structures of plasma transferred arc deposited aluminium based composites by transmission electron microscopy

The aim of the present work was to study the interfacial structure and associated microstructural features of three different aluminium based composites. For each composite, the nature of the interfacial structure was examined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and correlated to its corrosion and tribological behavior. The nature of the interfacial structures observed by this TEM investigation also help explain the variation in each composite`s tribological behavior. Generally, composites reinforced with TiC or SiC particles exhibited a lower wear rate compared to Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} containing composites. This improvement in wear rate, in part could be attributed to a better interfacial bond whether achieved by a high dislocation density at the interface or by the presence of an interfacial reaction zone. However, other factors such as reinforcement fracture toughness and morphology also play an important role in resistance to wear.