EFFECT OF ALUMINA POWDER ADDITION ON WEAR RESISTANCE OF Zn-4Al ALLOY PREPARED BY POWDER METALLUGY METHOD

Abstract

This research is aimed to produce Zn-4Al alloys by using powder metallurgy technique. Zinc and aluminum powders were thoroughly mixed to obtain Zn-4 wt% Al. Alumina powder with different weight percents 2, 3 and 4 then added to Zn-4 wt% Al mixture. Careful mixings were applied to guarantee homogeneous distribution of alumina in the zinc-aluminum powder mixture. Cold pressings at 6.5 t using cylindrical die were done. Sintering of samples at 335 ¬oC for a period of 1 hr using argon gas as an inert gas were made. Grinding, polishing and etching were applied to the sintered samples in order to study the microstructure and hardness. Green density, true density, X-ray diffraction and wear resistance were also investigated. Results obtained showed that increasing the volume fraction of alumina increased the green density after pressing while the true density increased after sintering as compare with green density. Both the size of porosity and its percentage decrease because the formation of hard phases from zinc and aluminum. This is lead to increase the Vickers hardness and enhance the wear resistance of samples due to the formation of second phase of Al4Zn6 and also to the presence of alumina powder.