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Wear 264 (2008) 638647
Microstructure and the wear mechanism of grain-rened
aluminum during dry sliding against steel disc
A.K. Prasada Rao
a,
, K. Das
b
, B.S. Murty
c
, M. Chakraborty
b
a
Center for Advanced Aerospace Materials, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea
b
Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India
c
Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India
Received 31 August 2006; received in revised form 28 March 2007; accepted 30 May 2007
Available online 17 July 2007
Abstract
This article discusses on the inuence of grain renement on the wear mechanism of commercially pure Al. In this work, commercially pure Al,
grain rened using AlTi, AlTiB grain rener master alloys, prior to casting. These castings after machining have been subjected to dry-sliding
wear against high-chromium hardened steel disc at a constant load of 50 N and speed of 1 ms
1
. The effect of grain renement of aluminum on its
wear behavior has been investigated. The sub-surface and the worn surfaces of the specimens were characterized in order to understand the wear
behavior of aluminumagainst steel disc. Although it has been found that wear mechanismof aluminumis same for both untreated and grain rened,
untreated aluminum exhibits higher wear loss than that of grain-rened aluminum. The results also show that grain renement has a signicant
effect on the transfer of Fe from the steel disc to the worn surface and sub-surface of Al specimens.
2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Wear; Grain renement; Aluminum; Microstructure
1. Introduction
Grain renement has been a common foundry practice for
Al and its alloys since last few decades [13]. It has been
reported that grain renement by melt inoculation with AlTiB
or AlTiC type grain rener results in ne equiaxed grains
[13]. On the other hand several reports have been found on
the mechanical deformation behavior of pure aluminum [4,5].
Much work has been reported in wear of Al alloys especially
AlSi alloys. However, very few reports have been found on
the dry-sliding behavior of pure Al against steel disc. Goto and
Buckley [6] studied the effect of fretting wear behavior of Al
against aluminum under humid conditions. It has been reported
that the humidity has less inuence in altering the coefcient
of friction during fretting wear of aluminum. This perhaps is
due to the stable oxide layer formed near the sliding surfaces.
In another investigation [7] on the dry-sliding wear behavior
of commercial pure Al against a steel disc, it was shown that

Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 54 2792823; fax: +82 54 2795887.

E-mail addresses: akprasada@yahoo.com, prasad@postech.ac.kr
(A.K. Prasada Rao).
adhesion is the major mode of wear in pure aluminum rubbed
against a steel disc. However, present authors have reported that
the grain renement has a signicant inuence in enhancing the
wear resistance of commercial pure Al [8]. Nevertheless, earlier
work [8] did not emphasize on grain shape and detail study of
the Fe-transfer during dry-sliding.
From the survey of the literature it has been understood that
little investigation has been done in understanding the inuence
of grain renement treatment on the microstructure and its sub-
sequent effect on the wear mechanism of commercial pure Al
during dry sliding against a steel disc. Nevertheless, detailed
microstructural features and wear mechanism of grain-rened
aluminum were not investigated in the past work [68].
2. Experimental details
2.1. Grain renement procedure
One kilogram of aluminum was taken in a zirconia coated
graphite crucible (preheated at 300

C) and melted under a cover

ux (50 wt% NaCl +50 wt% KCl) in a pit type resistance fur-
nace. The melt was brought to a temperature of 720 5

C and
0043-1648/$ see front matter 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.wear.2007.05.010
A.K. Prasada Rao et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 638647 639
Table 1
Details of the aluminum specimens used in the present study
Sample code Grain rener
alloy
Addition level of
grain rener (wt%)
Holding time
(min)
HP-1 0
HP-2 Al3Ti 0.33 5
HP-3 Al3Ti 0.33 120
HP-4 Al3Ti 0.50 5
HP-5 Al3Ti 0.50 120
HP-6 Al3Ti 0.67 5
HP-7 Al3Ti 0.67 120
HP-8 Al3Ti 1.00 5
HP-9 Al3Ti 1.00 120
HP-10 Al3Ti 1.50 5
HP-11 Al3Ti 1.50 120
HP-12 Al5Ti1B 0.10 5
HP-13 Al5Ti1B 0.10 120
HP-14 Al5Ti1B 0.20 5
HP-15 Al5Ti1B 0.20 120
then degassed (to remove H
2
) using commercial degasser, hex-
achloroethane (C
2
Cl
6
). After degassing, the grain rener master
alloy has been plunged into the melt in the form of chips, duly
packed in an aluminum foil. The melt was stirred for 30 s with
zirconia-coated graphite rod, after which no further stirring was
carried out. Parts of the melt were poured at regular intervals
(0, 5, and 120 minhere after referred to as holding time) into a
cylindrical graphite mould (25 mmdiameter and 150 mmheight)
with its top open for pouring. Zero minute holding time refers to
the castings obtained from untreated melt (HP-1). Table 1 gives
the details of aluminum specimens obtained after grain rene-
ment treatment. The castings were cut transversely, polished
and etched with Kellers reagent for microstructural characteri-
zation and with Poultons reagent for revealing macrostructure.
Grain size was measured by linear intercept method (by using
Lieca Image Analyzer) at a magnication of 100. The length
and breadth of the grains were obtained as an average of
100 readings vertically and 100 horizontally. The grain size
presented is the square root of the mean product of length
and breadth readings obtained from the vertical and horizontal
intercepts.
The aspect ratio of the grains has been measured by linear
intercept method following the similar procedure used for grain
size measurement. The aspect ratio has been considered as the
ratio of length and breadth of the Al grains.
2.2. Dry-sliding wear studies
Wear characteristics of aluminum were studied by using a
pin-on-disc wear-testing machine (TR-20, DUCOM) equipped
with LVDT sensors for acquiring height loss and friction force
data. Schematic diagramof the pin-on-disc wear testing machine
has been shown in Fig. 1. Steel disc used in the present study
has the Rockwell hardness of (R
c
) 64 and surface roughness, R
a
of 0.15 m. Four samples for each condition were tested and the
average of the height loss was obtained. From the height loss,
volume loss and wear rate were calculated. Wear tests were con-
ducted in dry conditions in order to avoid effect of lubricating
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the pin-on-disc type wear testing machine.
medium. Wear specimens were obtained by machining the cylin-
drical castings such that the longitudinal axis of the wear sample
coincides with that of the casting. The surface roughness of the
specimen has been measured by using Surtronic 3P machine
(Rank Taylor Hobson Ltd.). The roughness values obtained lie
in the range of 0.4750.614 m. Height loss versus sliding dis-
tance plot is obtained from the computer interface connected to
the wear-testing machine, which in turn is plotted as volume loss
versus sliding distance. The wear rate is determined as the slope
of the linear t of volume losssliding distance plot in the steady-
state regime (sliding distance of 5001500 m). Wear resistance
reported is the reciprocal of the wear rate. The computer aided
pin-on-disc wear testing machine used in the present study also
gives the force of friction directly as one of the out puts. Thus
coefcient of friction presented is the ratio of the force of fric-
tion and the normal load applied. Apparent area of contact is
assumed to be same as the area of cross-section of the cylin-
drical specimen (pin of diameter 8 mm and 25 mm in length).
Sliding velocity was chosen as 1 ms
1
for all the experiments.
The worn surfaces and microstructure of the sub-surfaces were
examined under SEM (JEOL, JSM-5800, Japan)/EDX micro-
analyser interfaced with Link ISIS software for EDX, X-ray dot
mapping and Line-scan analysis(ISI 300 Oxford Instruments
Ltd., UK).
3. Results and discussion
A number of experiments have been conducted on the grain
renement of the commercially pure aluminum using Al3Ti
and Al5Ti1B grain rener master alloys. The mechanism of
grain renement is believed to be by heterogeneous nucleation of
Al-grains during solidication of molten aluminum. The nucle-
ating particles being Al
3
Ti or TiB
2
, which are added in the form
of AlTi or AlTiB type grain rener master alloys [13].
However, present work is focused on the effect of nal as-cast
microstructure of aluminum on its dry-sliding wear behavior
against steel disc.
3.1. Macrostructure and microstructure
Fig. 2 shows a series of macrostructure of commercial pure
aluminum both with and without grain rener addition. It is
obvious from the gure that Al in untreated condition (HP-1)
shows coarse columnar grain structure. The specimens denoted
as HP-2, HP-4, HP-6, HP-8 and HP-10 represent the aluminum
640 A.K. Prasada Rao et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 638647
Fig. 2. Photomacrographs of commercially pure aluminum(CPAL) in untreated
condition (HP-1) and grain rened with Al3Ti (HP-2HP-11), and Al5Ti1B
(HP-12HP-15). The top row(HP-2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14) corresponds to 5 min
of holding while the bottom row (HP-3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15) corresponds to
120 min of holding.
grain rened with the addition of 0.33, 0.50, 0.67, 1.00 and
1.50 wt% of Al3Ti grain rener master alloy, respectively for a
holding time of 5 min. Similarly, HP-12 and HP-14 denote the Al
specimens of grain rened with Al5Ti1B grain rener master
alloy with addition levels of 0.10 and 0.2 wt% at a holding time
of 5 min.
It has been observed that the increase in the addition level
of Al3Ti grain rener results in the decrease in the grain size.
In addition to the decrease in the grain size it is also observed
that the grain morphology changes from coarse columnar struc-
ture to ne equiaxed type of structure with the increase in the
addition level of the grain rener. The addition of 0.33 wt%
of Al3Ti grain rener results in the microstructure consist-
ing of pre-dominantly columnar grains along with some coarse
equiaxed grains. It can also be seen that the number of ne
equiaxed grains increase while the number of coarse columnar
grains vanish gradually with the increase of the addition level of
the grain rener. This can be attributed to the increased number
of nucleating particles introduced in the formof the grain rener
master alloy. Similar behavior is also noticed in the case of Al
grain rened with 0.10 and 0.20 wt%of Al5Ti1Bgrain rener
for a holding time of 5 min.
The specimens denoted as HP-3, HP-5, HP-7, HP-9 and HP-
11 represent Al grain rened with Al3Ti grain rener for a
holding time of 120 min, respectively. Although it has been
found that the grains gradually become ner and equiaxed with
the increase in addition level of the grain rener, it is observed
that grains coarsen on longer holding time of 120 min when com-
pared to those of 5 min holding. This can be explained from the
fading phenomenon of the grain rener [13]. Similar observa-
tions have also been made in the case of Al grain rened with
Al5Ti1B grain rener (HP-12HP-15) as seen in Fig. 2.
Fig. 3. Effect of grain renement on the aspect ratio of the Al grains.
From Fig. 2 it has been understood that the addition of grain
reners to Al result in the change in the shape of the grains from
coarse columnar to ne equiaxed. It is also evident from Fig. 2
that some of the grain-rened Al castings reveal the co-existence
of both equiaxed and columnar grains in their macrostructure,
while some show completely equiaxed grains. Hence, the aver-
age grain aspect ratio has been measured separately and plotted
against the grain size as shown in Fig. 3.
It is clear from Fig. 3 that the aspect ratio increases with
the increase in the grain size. In other words, grains tend to be
more equiaxed with the grain renement. It is also found that
the grains larger than 300 m have greater aspect ratio, suggest-
ing a columnar equiaxed transition zone, with a co-existence of
columnar and equiaxed grains. Hence, the range of grain sizes
has been classied into three zones designated as columnar,
columnar +equiaxed, equiaxed, as shown in Fig. 3.
The results discussed above have shown that it is possible to
produce a varied microstructure with different grain size by grain
renement. However, earlier reports [13,8] in this eld does not
appear to consider the grain shape as an important parameter,
however present work considers both grain size and grain shape
(aspect ratio) for scaling grain renement.
3.2. Wear
Dry-sliding wear experiments were conducted using a
computer aided pin-on-disc wear-testing machine at constant
sliding velocity (V=1 ms
1
) and constant normal load applied
(N=50 N). During wear testing, two plots are generated as out
comes they are; height loss (m) versus time (s) curve; and force
of friction versus time (s). Time is expressed in terms of sliding
distance by multiplying with sliding velocity (V=1 ms
1
) and
volume loss (mm
3
) was calculated by multiplying the height
loss with the area of cross-section, which however keeps the
nature of the curves un-altered. Fig. 4(a)(c) shows the height
loss versus time plots for HP-1 (columnar), HP-5 (colum-
nar +equiaxed), HP-14 (equiaxed) samples for 01800 msliding
distance (inclusive of both running-in and steady-state regime)
A.K. Prasada Rao et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 638647 641
Fig. 4. (ac) Height loss vs. sliding time plots obtained during the dry sliding
of commercial pure aluminum against steel disc.
(Note: Dry-sliding experiments were conducted for all the speci-
mens fromHP-1 to HP-15, however, a fewrepresentative results
are presented in this article). Fig. 4(a) shows the height loss of
commercial pure Al in untreated condition (HP-1) as a function
of time of sliding; volume loss was obtained by multiplying
Fig. 5. Effect of grain size on the wear rate of grain-rened aluminum
during steady-state regime, 5001500 m (normal load =50 N, sliding veloc-
ity =1 ms
1
).
height loss with cross-section area. The wear rate (mm
3
/m)
is calculated from the slope of the volume loss versus sliding
distance curve in the steady-state regime (5001500 m sliding
distance). It has been found that the wear rate (slopes of the linear
ts) decrease with the decrease in the grain size, which indi-
cates that the wear rate decreases with the decrease in the grain
size of aluminum. This can be attributed to the grain boundary
strengthening of aluminum leading to strain hardening.
The height loss plots exhibit some uctuations in the curve;
these uctuations are possibly due to the entrapment and release
of the debris particles in between the sliding surfaces. Another
reasonfor the uctuations couldbe due tothe delaminationof the
tribolayers. However, it is difcult to conrmthe exact cause for
such uctuations since the dry-sliding system is quite complex.
Fig. 5 shows the plot, which demonstrates the effect of grain
size on the steady-state wear rate. It can be seen that the wear
rate increases with the increase in the grain size. It is found that
the wear rate increases with the increase of the grain size in a
linear way up to about 500 m of grain size. However, there is
a sharp rise in the wear rate at grain size greater than 500 m.
Such behavior may be attributed to the change in the grain shape
fromequiaxed to columnar (with increase in the grain size) ones.
Fig. 6 shows the effect of grain aspect ratio on the wear rate
of commercial pure aluminum with a range of grain sizes. This
gure shows a sharp increase in the wear rate with the increase in
the aspect ratio from 1 to 1.5, while it remains virtually same up
to three and again increases sharply up to eight. This is due to the
fact that during grain renement, in addition to the decrease in
the grain size, the grain shape is also transformed fromcolumnar
to equiaxed, which is evident from Figs. 2 and 3. Interestingly
in similar nding it was reported that aluminum with colum-
nar grain structure would exhibit anisotropy in the mechanical
behavior [4,5]. This shows that grain morphology has a signi-
cant role in improving the wear resistance of as-cast aluminum.
However, it is observed that during grain renement, the grains
transform from coarse-columnar to ne-equiaxed morphology
resulting in increasing the mechanical isotropy.
642 A.K. Prasada Rao et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 638647
Fig. 6. Effect of grain aspect ratio on the dry sliding wear rate (steadystate) of
cast aluminum (load =50 N, sliding velocity =1 ms
1
).
3.3. Friction
The force/coefcient of friction developed during the dry
sliding of Al pin against the steel disc under normal load 50 N
has been plotted against sliding distance and shown in Fig. 7.
The coefcient of friction shown in Fig. 7 was computed from
Fig. 7. Force of friction (F) developed during dry sliding of aluminum against
hardened high chrome steel disc under a constant applied load of 50 Nand sliding
velocity of 1 ms
1
.
force of friction using Coulombs law of friction (=F/N). It is
observed that initially the force of friction increases rapidly up to
certain sliding distance of about 300 m, indicating a running-in
wear regime. On further sliding, beyond 300 m, the friction force
Fig. 8. Effect of grain size of aluminum and sliding distance on the force of friction during dry sliding against steel disc (load =50 N, velocity =1 ms
1
).
A.K. Prasada Rao et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 638647 643
almost remains constant as seen in Fig. 7, suggesting a steady-
state regime. It is also observed that the magnitude of the force
varies from 10 to 35 N (approx.) for various specimens studied.
Interestingly, the specimen corresponding to un-treated Al (HP-
1) exhibits low force of friction; while the same increases from
20 to 35 N for the remaining specimens obtained from grain-
rened Al as enlisted in Fig. 7. The reason for the variation of
the force of friction with the increase in the sliding distance may
be explained as below
Initially surface of the specimen pin mounted on the steel
disc does not have complete contact with the disc surface due
to the asperities formed during the machining of the specimen
pin. In other words, the contact area between pin and disc is less
than that of the area of cross-section of the specimen pin, which
leads to increase in the pressure acting on the pin, particularly at
the running-in wear regime (<300 m), as reported by Karl-Heinz
and Zum Gahr [9]. However, on prolonged sliding, the friction
force tends to be constant as noticed from Fig. 7. This is due to
the constant pressure on the sliding surface of the pin. Another
reason for constant force of friction during steady-state regime
is strain hardening of the tribolayer due to plastic deformation
[9].
Fig. 9. (a and b) Optical photomicrographs of un-treated aluminum (HP-1)
showing the cross-section of the sub-surface of the worn test pin (1800 m, 50 N
and 1 ms
1
).
Fig. 10. (a and b) Optical photomicrographs of grain-rened aluminum(HP-14)
showing the cross-section of the sub-surface of the worn test pin (1800 m, 50 N
and 1 ms
1
).
Dry-sliding force of friction has been plotted against grain
size for sliding distances of 300, 900 and 1500 m as shown
in Fig. 8. It is obvious from Fig. 8 that the force of friction
decreases with the increase in the grain size for a given sliding
Fig. 11. Variation in the hardness of aluminum across the wear surface during
dry sliding against hardened high chrome steel disc.
644 A.K. Prasada Rao et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 638647
Fig. 12. Schematic representation of the tribolayer in Al castings specimens without grain renement and with grain renement indicating the forces acting on the
specimens.
distance. This can be due to the decrease in the grain boundary
area with the increase of grain size. Dry-sliding leads to shearing
phenomenon near the sliding surfaces [9]. This results in defor-
mation of the tribolayer due to shear. However, it is well known
that the shear strength increases with the decrease in the grain
size of aluminum. The increase in the friction force (Fig. 7) with
the sliding distance can be attributed to the strain hardening of
the tribolayer. Study of the friction plots shown in Fig. 8 reveals
a decreasing trend with the increase of the grain size. Neverthe-
less, it is observed that these plots uctuate at some grain sizes.
This kind of uctuation in the force of friction can be explained
as follows
During sliding the tribolayer is work hardened due to plastic
deformation; this leads to the formation of a hard layer due to
mechanical mixing which increases the force of friction. The
mechanically mixed layer (MML) containing AlFeO com-
pounds is formed during sliding and mechanical alloying, which
adheres to the sliding surfaces (pin) and increases the wear resis-
tance by preventing further wear of the pin. On further sliding,
this layer gets separated out from the pin surface due to delami-
Fig. 13. SEM photomicrographs of the worn surface of aluminum (a and b) without grain renement and (c and d) with grain renement.
A.K. Prasada Rao et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 638647 645
nation leaving behind the fresh pin surface, which is reected as
the drop in the force of friction at some points in the plots shown
in Fig. 7. However, it should be noted that several phenomena
occur simultaneously during the dry sliding of aluminum, which
make the situation quite complicated and hence it is difcult
to attribute the uctuations in the friction force to grain size
alone.
3.4. Surface analysis
Worn aluminum test pins were sectioned across their lon-
gitudinal axis in order to study the sub-surface. Fig. 9(a) and
(b) corresponds to the optical photomicrographs revealing the
sub-surface of un-treated aluminum at different magnications.
The gure clearly reveals coarse columnar grains in the region
away from the worn surface. However, the region just adjacent
to the worn surface shows deformed grains along with ne par-
ticles embedded in the sub-surface. These microstructures also
show that the grains adjacent to the worn surface resemble as
if they are compressed into at bands, which indicates the plas-
tic deformation of the grains (Note: The sliding direction of
the pin is perpendicular to the plain of paper for all specimens
studied).
Similar microscopic study was done on grain-rened alu-
minum(HP-14) wear pins. The optical photomicrographs shown
in Fig. 10(a) and (b) at different magnications reveal ne
equiaxed grains in the region away fromthe worn surface. How-
ever, the region adjacent to the worn surface (i.e., sub-surface)
shows ne grains deformed in the form of at narrow bands
along with ne particles embedded into the worn surface.
A comparative study of sub-surfaces (worn surface is shown
by arrows) of aluminum in un-treated and grain-rened condi-
tions shown in Figs. 9(a) and (b) and 10(a) and (b), respectively,
suggests that the extent of deformation is greater in case of
untreated aluminum than that of grain rened aluminum. This
is well in agreement with the theory of plastic deformation
proposed by Ashby [10]. According to this theory, grains
divide the matrix into boxes, which lead to piling up of the
dislocations in the grain boundaries resulting in strain hard-
ening, i.e., the specimens with ne equiaxed grains exhibit
higher strain hardening tendency than Al pins with coarser
grains.
Micro-hardness studies were conducted along the vertical
sectioned surface starting from the worn surface. Fig. 11 sug-
gests that the variation in the micro-hardness of aluminum
measured from the worn surface and away. It can be seen that
grain rened aluminumexhibits higher hardness than that in un-
treated condition. It is evident from Fig. 11 that the hardness of
the specimen decreases with the distance fromthe worn surface,
which indicates that the sub-surface nearer to the worn surface
was hardened due to strain hardening effect than the region away
from the worn surface. The increase in the hardness can be fur-
ther accounted to the formation of MML (mechanically mixed
layer) by the mutual solubility of the sliding materials or due to
the formation of some AlFe intermetallic compounds. Present
results reconrm earlier report of Rigney et al. [11] that the
plastic deformation changes the sub-surface microstructure in
ways, which make the material unstable to local shear leading
to delamination.
In order to understand the role of grain size on wear behav-
ior more clearly, a schematic diagram (Fig. 12) representing the
forces acting on the pins during dry sliding against a hard steel
disc may be considered. The specimen pins are subjected to two
forces, they are normal load applied (N) and force of friction (F),
which is developed during rubbing of the pin against the steel
disc. Primarily the deformation occurs due to the shear force,
which is nothing, but the force of friction, F acting on the sliding
surface, normal to the longitudinal axis of the pin as shown in the
schematic diagram(Fig. 12). It can be noticed fromFigs. 7 and 8
that the grain-rened Al specimens show higher force of fric-
tion than that of un-treated Al. This observation suggests that
grain size has a signicant role in deciding the force of friction.
From the above results it has been found that ner grain size
(higher grain boundary area) results in greater strength. Hence,
it is understood that the force required for shearing the specimen
during dry sliding increases with the grain renement, which is
clearly noticed from the increasing trend of the friction force
from Fig. 7.
Wornsurfaces of the aluminumspecimens were studiedunder
SEM followed by X-ray dot mapping. Fig. 13(a)(d) represents
the SEM photomicrographs of the worn surfaces of aluminum
(without grain renement) and grain-rened aluminum, respec-
Fig. 14. SEM photomicrographs of the worn debris of aluminum (a) untreated
and (b) grain rened condition (load =50 N, V=1 ms
1
and 1800 m).
646 A.K. Prasada Rao et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 638647
tively. Fig. 13(a and b) shows the mechanically mixed layer
(MML) adhered to the aluminum pin surface. A careful study
of Fig. 14(a) and (b) which shows the SEM photomicrographs
of the wear debris indicates that the debris particles generated
from grain-rened Al are of ner size (35 m) when com-
pared to that of un-treated aluminum, which lie in the range of
810 minsize. This is probablydue tothe generationof coarser
debris in case of un-rened aluminum, unlike in the grain-rened
aluminum when tribolayer with ner grains is delaminated to
form ner debris during mechanical alloying. These particles
get embedded into the soft Al substrate to form mechanically
mixed layer. During this process some of the particles may be
left un-embedded, which form a part of debris. Loose debris
particles thus formed enter the gap between the pin and the disc
resulting in three-body abrasion. This could be the possible rea-
son for the scatter in the force of friction/coefcient of friction
plot in steady-state regime as evident from Fig. 7. Therefore,
it can be understood that a combination of various wear mech-
anisms like delamination, three-body abrasion, exist in during
the dry sliding of both grain-rened and un-grain-rened Al
specimens.
Figs. 15 and 16 show the X-ray elemental mapping of the
sub-surface of worn specimens of untreated (HP-1) and grain-
rened aluminum(HP-14), respectively. It can be observed from
the elemental distribution shown in Fig. 15, that Fe is transferred
into the aluminum matrix during sliding. It is also seen that the
amount of Fe is more near the worn surface and lowin the region
away from the worn surface, indicating the transfer of Fe from
the steel disc during dry-sliding. However, it is interesting to note
that the diffusion of Fe is greater for untreated aluminum(HP-1)
when compared to that of grain-rened aluminum(HP-14). This
again can be attributed to the embedding of greater number of
AlFe particles into softer matrix of untreated aluminum, unlike
in grain-rened case.
3.5. Wear mechanism
Dry sliding of aluminumpins against steel disc results in rub-
bing action, which induces large plastic strain at the sub-surface
of the sliding pin. Such plastic strain leads to the local strain
hardening at the sub-surface of the tribolayer. During which
some iron diffuses into the worn surface of the aluminum due to
mutual solubility of the sliding materials as proposed by Rigney
et al. [11]. This has been conrmed by the decrease in the hard-
ness measured across the sub-surface of the worn aluminum
test pins. It is important to note that the magnitude of hardness
varies with the extent of grain renement of aluminum. The
plastic deformation further leads to change in the microstruc-
ture of the sub-surface, making the material unstable to local
shear causing delamination. These delaminated asperities get
entrapped between the sliding surfaces resulting in further
plastic strain due to mechanical alloying. Loose debris parti-
cles move in between the sliding surfaces causing three-body
abrasion.
Fig. 15. X-ray mapping of sub-surface of un-treated aluminum wear test specimen (HP-1) (1800 m, 50 N and 1 ms
1
) (1000).
A.K. Prasada Rao et al. / Wear 264 (2008) 638647 647
Fig. 16. X-ray mapping of sub-surface of grain-rened aluminum wear test specimen (HP-14) (1800 m, 50 N and 1 ms
1
) (1000).
4. Conclusion
Grain renement of aluminum by inoculating with AlTi or
AlTiB grain reners leads to decrease in the size and aspect
ratio of the grains. This in turn increases the grain boundary
area and results in improved strength. It has also been found
that the force of friction generated during dry sliding of alu-
minum pins against steel disc increases with decrease in the
grain size, suggesting the improvement in the shear resistance
of aluminum due to grain boundary strengthening. Hence, it is
understood that the wear resistance of grain-rened aluminum
increases with the decrease in grain size and grain aspect ratio
(equiaxed). A wear mechanism proposed suggests that, Al pins
with and without grain renement exhibit similar wear mecha-
nism, although the magnitude of the wear rate is lower for the
grain-rened aluminum than that of untreated aluminum.
Acknowledgement
One of the authors (A.K. Prasada Rao) would like to
acknowledge the support by Prof. N.J. Kim, Center for
Advanced Aerospace Materials, POSTECH, Republic of
Korea.
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