Dry Sliding Wear Behavior of EB Surface-Alloyed and Dispersed AZ91 Magnesium Alloy under Mild Wear Conditions

This paper reports on investigations of the beneficial effects of electron beam alloying (EBA) and electron beam dispersion alloying (EBDA) on the wear behavior of AZ91D Mg alloy under mild wear conditions with applied normal loads of 1…10 N. The layers generated had a thickness of 1.5 mm with Al contents of 30 wt.%. For dispersion alloyed layers, TiC was added with particle sizes of 20…100 µm. At a sliding distance of 20 m, the wear rates of alloyed layers (150 HB) and dispersion alloyed layers (180 HB) were almost the same and could be reduced by half compared to the untreated AZ91D (60 HB). Due to their large size and the large spaces between them, TiC particles were pressed into the layer matrix, or were torn out and acted as additional abrasives. Therefore, at a sliding distance of 50 m, the wear rate of dispersion alloyed layers increased to the level of the base material.