On the Analysis of High-Temperature Mechanical Properties and Dry Sliding Tribological Behavior of Ultra-Fine Grained Boron Carbide-Reinforced Al5083-Based Trimodal Composites

Numerous research studies have been done on ultra-fine grained (UFG) aluminum and aluminum-based composites materials due to their higher tensile strength in comparison with coarse-grained (CG) bulks. However, the relationship between the mechanical behavior and dry sliding wear performance of ultra-fine grained Al5083-based boron carbide-reinforced trimodal composite bulks at room and high temperatures have been neglected. Furthermore, the effect of temperature rise on these properties seems critical since these materials have been used in several working and operating conditions. In the present paper, it is intended to study the impact of temperature rise on the mechanical behavior and wear resistance of ultra-fine grained Al5083-5wt%B4C trimodal composite bulks. Results revealed that increasing the temperature to 200 °C, did not have any significant effect on the hardness and strength of the Al5083-5wt%B4C bulk. However, significant changes occurred in the hardness and wear resistance of the composite samples by adding Al5083 coarse grains. In this case, severe plastic deformation and surface damage occurred in the Al5083-5wt%B4C-50%CG sample and the wear rate reached 9.7 × 10–7(mm3/m–N).