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DOI 10.1007/s12633-016-9437-5
ORIGINAL PAPER
Tribological Characterization of Stir-cast Aluminium-TiB2
Metal Matrix Composites
Suswagata Poria1,2 · Prasanta Sahoo1,2 · Goutam Sutradhar1,2
Received: 3 March 2016 / Accepted: 11 April 2016
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016
Abstract The present study considers friction and wear of
aluminium matrix composites reinforced with TiB2 micro
particles processed through the stir casting method rather
than in-situ techniques adopted by earlier studies. Different
weight percentages of TiB2 powders having average sizes
of 5 - 40 micron were incorporated into molten LM4 alu-
minium matrix by stir casting method. The friction and wear
behavior were studied for Al-TiB2 composites prepared
according to specific dimensions by using a block-on-roller
type multi-tribotester at room temperature. Normal loads of
25 - 75 N and rotational speed of 400 – 600 rpm were used
for determination of friction and wear behavior. It is found
that friction and wear decrease with increase in percentage
of TiB2 reinforcement in the composite, while friction and
wear increase with applied load and speed. Scanning elec-
tron microscopy studies reveal the presence of both abrasive
and adhesive wear mechanisms with abrasive wear being
predominant.
Keywords Al-TiB2 composites · Hardness · Friction ·
Wear
 Prasanta Sahoo
psjume@gmail.com; psahoo@mech.jdvu.ac.in
1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jadavpur University,
Kolkata 700 032, India
2 Centre of Excellence on Phase Transformation
and Product Characterization, TEQIP-II, Jadavpur University,
Kolkata 700032, India
1 Introduction
Metal matrix composites (MMCs) have been an active area
of research and scientific investigation for last two decades
but only in recent times, MMCs have become realistic engi-
neering materials [1]. In metal matrix composites, two or
more different phases (one of which is metallic phase) co-
exist and are suitably distributed to provide some important
properties which cannot be achieved by either of the individ-
ual phases [2, 3]. Metal matrix composites consist of metals
or their alloys as matrix phase and continuous or discontin-
uous fibers, whiskers or particles as reinforcement. Com-
bination of matrix and their reinforcements and controlling
the procedure of synthesis allow to produce some unique
combination of properties in MMCs like fatigue strength,
damping property, electrical and thermal conductivity, low
friction, wear resistance, suitable expansion coefficient etc.
which cannot be achievable in any monolithic metal or
alloys [4]. Among MMCs, composites based on aluminum
(Al) alloys are the largest share of the volume produced for
commercial applications [5]. For applications in automo-
tive and aerospace industries, aluminum matrix composites
are now-a-days first in league due to its high strength to
weight ratio, light weight and good tribological ranking
which lacks in sole aluminum as metal or alloys [6]. Al
alloys have already been replaced by aluminum matrix com-
posites (AMCs) in many applications where tribological
properties are of important consideration [7–9]. In appli-
cations like ground transportation, thermal management,
aerospace industry, automotive industry, recreational indus-
tries, high structural efficiency and excellent wear resistance
are the most needed properties and AMCs fulfill those
requirements in engineering materials [10]. Improvement

in affordability and processability can provide a great scope
for future use of AMCs and thus researchers are aiming at
incorporation of various types of reinforcements. Mainly,
ceramic particulates like SiC [11–15], B4 C [16, 17], Al2 O3
[18], ZrB2 [19] TiC [20], TiB2 are used as reinforcement
to achieve better mechanical and tribological properties
of AMCs. Enhancement of properties in AMCs mostly
depends on the selection of materials, reinforcement phase
and process of synthesis. Incorporation of TiB2 as reinforce-
ment in Al alloy matrix has recently emerged as an active
area of research due to some specific advantages of TiB2 as
reinforcement and aluminum alloy as matrix as well as vary-
ing scopes for fabrication (liquid phase, solid phase, two
phase), apart from excellent combination of the properties
of final composite [21].
Titanium diboride (TiB2 ) has some unique properties like
high Young’s Modulus (345-409 GPa), high hardness (3400
HV), low density, high wear resistance [22]. TiB2 does not
react with molten aluminum matrix which leads to no reac-
tion product at interface and TiB2 is also known as the
hardest material that can be reinforced in aluminum matrix
alloy [23]. It is well documented that mechanical proper-
ties i.e. tensile strength, elongation, fracture behavior and
tribological properties i.e. wear resistance in dry condition
at normal and elevated temperature, abrasive wear resis-
tance, frictional coefficient of aluminum matrix composites
enhance qualitatively because of TiB2 reinforcement [24–
26]. Though major production of AMCs for commercial
purpose involves the incorporation of SiC as reinforce-
ment through casting or powder metallurgy techniques,
major drawback of this composite is formation of alu-
minum carbide (Al4 C3 ) which reduces physical, mechanical
and chemical properties of the composites [27]. Literatures
reveal that, to overcome this drawback of SiC reinforce-
ment, reinforcement like TiC, and TiB2 are effective [28]. It
is also reported that TiB2 as reinforcement produces good
mechanical and tribological properties in comparison with
TiC, B4 C, Al2 O3 , even SiC [29–31]. Moreover, TiB2 parti-
cles act as nucleating agent for aluminum and α-Al matrix
grains are refined due to TiB2 which provide various ways
of fabrication compared to any other ceramic particulate
reinforced AMCs [32].
Any MMC production involves number of challenges
like compatibility between matrix and reinforced particles,
uniform distribution of particles over matrix phase, con-
trolling reinforcement distribution patterns at the time of
synthesis etc. and these have successfully been overcome
by various modifications in overall fabrication techniques.
Liquid state, semisolid and powder metallurgy methods are
popular for fabrication of ceramic particulate reinforced
AMCs though these techniques are not quite capable to
address the main demerit, viz., expensive fabrication [33].
For fabrication of Al-TiB2 metal matrix composites, in-situ
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techniques are popular among solid-solid reaction processes
where TiB2 forms within the matrix due to reaction between
the constituents [34]. But, in case of in-situ techniques
for fabrication, the particles may not be distributed uni-
formly as expected due to agglomerating behavior of TiB2
particles and these agglomerations segregate in the grain
boundary which has detrimental effects to the properties of
as-cast Al-TiB2 composites [32, 35]. On the other hand, stir
cast method based on liquid metallurgy techniques is eco-
nomical, capable to overcome the disadvantages of in-situ
techniques, simple and flexible for large quantity produc-
tion, excellently productive for near-net shaped components
compared to other fabrication routes for Al-TiB2 compos-
ites [36–38]. Limited problems of stir cast method, i.e.,
porosity of the final product and wettability can be reduced
by controlling the stirring parameters (speed and time) and
lower particle size of TiB2 reinforcement [39–41].
Literature review reveals that many studies have been
done on mechanical behavior of Al-TiB2 composites devel-
oped by in-situ techniques [24, 28, 42, 43]. Some studies
have focused on tribological properties mainly dry sliding
wear behavior of the same [22, 23, 25, 44, 45]. Other recent
literatures [46–51] have reported extensively on behavior of
aluminium metal matrix composites. But rigorous analysis
of tribological behavior of stir cast Al-TiB2 composites is
scanty. The present study considers the tribological char-
acterization of Al-TiB2 composites fabricated through stir
cast method. A multi-tribotester is used to find out the wear
and friction behavior of as-cast composites under dry slid-
ing conditions and ambient atmosphere for varying amount
of reinforcement, applied load and sliding speed. Later,
dependence of tribological behaviors on various parame-
ters of composite is analyzed. Scanning electron microscopy
(SEM) studies and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses are
conducted to characterize the surface of the composite in
terms of distribution of the reinforcement particles, wear
patterns etc.
2 Experimental Procedure
2.1 Sample Preparation
The composite is fabricated through stir casting process
using LM4 aluminium casting alloy as the base/matrix metal
and titanium diboride (TiB2 ) as reinforcement. Basic com-
position of LM4 aluminium alloy and TiB2 are given in
Tables 1 and 2. Average particle size of TiB2 varies from 5
µm to 40 µm. Particle size of reinforcement is an important
parameter in fabrication of composites as wettability and
distribution of reinforcement depend on it. In stir casting,
LM4 ingots are placed inside the cavity of electric resis-
tance arc furnace (shown in Fig. 1) and are heated to 800
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Table 1 Chemical composition of LM4 alloy

Element Cu Si Mg Fe Mn Ni Zn Al

Wt% 3.2 6 0.05 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.15 Remain

◦ C. TiB2 particles are preheated at 600 ◦ C in a separate

muffle furnace. Preheating of reinforcement is necessary
because preheating helps to create an oxide layer over the
particles. Mechanical stirrer connected with furnace is used
for stirring the molten LM4 for 5 minutes to create vortex
in the molten metal. The rotational speed of stirrer is con-
trolled using a controller connected with motor. String speed
is kept fixed at 500 rpm. Preheated TiB2 powder is added
manually to the vortex of the molten alloy. At the time of
mixing process, the temperature is kept fixed around 800
◦ C. After mixing, the mixture is stirred for 15 minutes at

500 rpm rotational speed to ensure the homogenous nature

of mixture. The mixture is then poured into a mould struc-
ture and cooled at room temperature. Size of the mold cavity
is 130mm×50mm×50mm. The pouring temperature of the
liquid mixture is kept constant at 800 ◦ C. This procedure
is repeated for various weight percentages (1 %, 2.5 %, 4
%, and 5.5 %) of TiB2 particles and altogether four differ-
ent composites having different weight percentages of TiB2
are prepared. After cooling the casting is properly cut and
machined to prepare the samples of suitable size. Shaping,
parting and milling processes are used for the preparation of
the samples. The samples are then finally subjected to sur-
face grinding process. The samples are cleaned from foreign
matter and corrosion products by wiping. Prior to the tribo-
logical tests, the roughness (CLA) of the sample surfaces is
measured with the help of a stylus-type profilometer, Taly-
surf (Taylor Hobson, Surtronic 3+). The profilometer is set
to a cut-off length of 0.8 mm, filter 2CR, traverse speed 1
mm/sec and 4 mm traverse length. The samples having less
than 1 % variation in roughness values are then selected for
tribological tests in order to avoid the roughness effect on
friction and wear behavior.
2.2 Hardness Study
Hardness of the composites processed through stir cast-
ing technique with variation in volume fraction of TiB2
reinforcement is evaluated in a UHL micro hardness tester
(Model - VMHT MOT, Sl. No. 1002001, Technische
Mikroskopie) with a Vickers diamond indenter under a load
Table 2 Chemical composition of TiB2 Powder
Element Ti B C O N
Wt% 67-69 29-32 0.5 0.5 0.2
Fig. 1 Melting furnace used for fabrication of Al- TiB2 MMC
of 3 Kgf. The dwell time is kept at 15 s while the speed
of indentation is set at 50 µm/s. The micro hardness tester
is controlled through a touch screen based system which
is part of the tester and the impressions of the indentions
are captured on a computer through a digital camera. The
hardness numbers are obtained by processing the indention
image through dedicated software installed on the computer.
An average of indentations at five different locations on
each sample is considered.
2.3 Friction and Wear Study
The tribological tests were performed in a multi tri-
botester apparatus (TR-25, DUCOM) shown schematically
in Fig. 2a. A close up view of multi-tribotester apparatus
along with composite sample is shown in Fig. 2b. The tests
are carried out in dry condition using block-on-roller geom-
etry. The ambient temperature is about 25 ◦ C with a relative
humidity at 83 %. During the test, composite specimens are
held stationary with the help of the attachment and made
to slide against the rotating counterface roller (EN8 steel).
The speed of the roller and the duration of tests can be con-
trolled via a computer attached to the tribotester. Load is
applied by placing dead weights on the loading pan which is
attached to a loading lever. The loading lever is pivoted near
Fe the normal load sensor which helps in the measurement of
effective normal load applied on the specimen. A beam type
0.09
load cell (1000 N capacity) is used by the frictional force

Fig. 2 a Schematic diagram of
the experimental set-up and b
close up view of block-on-roller
configuration
sensor to measure the frictional force which is plotted in
real time on the computer screen. It is to be noted that wear
is measured in terms of displacement (in microns) with the
help of linear voltage resistance transducer. Wear displace-
ment measured is actually the sum of the wear at specimen
surface and that at the counter face surface. But as the hard-
ness of the composites is quite lower (70-90 HV) than the
counter-face material (250-260 HV), the counterface mate-
rial encounters negligible wear compared to the composite
specimen. Hence, the measured displacement can be taken
as a representative of the actual wear depth encountered
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by the composite surface. In general wear is measured in
terms of wear volume or mass loss. But in the present case,
wear is expressed in terms of displacement or wear depth.
Hence, to ensure that the wear measurements are accurate,
the displacement results for wear are compared with the
weight loss of the specimens and almost linear relationship
is observed between the two for the range of test parame-
ters considered in the present work. Tribological tests are
carried out for varying normal load (25, 50, and 75N) and
varying roller speed (400, 500 and 600 rpm) for a duration
of 30 minutes.
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Fig. 3 Microhardness values for varying weight percentage of TiB2
2.4 Microstructure Study
Microstructure evaluation of a composite reveals the dis-
tribution of the reinforcement particles in the composite.
It also helps in determining the grain structure and the
alignment of the reinforcement. In the present study SEM
has been done to analyse the microstructure of the pre-
pared composites and also wear tracks of the composites to
study the wear mechanism. A scanning electron microscope
(JSM-6360, Japan) is used for this study. Before scanning,
samples are cut according to the size of the tray of the
machine and polished and etched using proper etchant. X-
ray diffraction analyzer (Rigaku, Ultima III) using Cu (40
kV, 30 mA) radiation is used to identify TiB2 phase in the
Fig. 4 SEM images of LM4-
TiB2 composites for varying
percentage of reinforcements (a)
1 % (b) 2.5 % (c) 4 % (d) 5.5 %
composite. Diffraction peaks are identified through JCPDS
software.
3 Results and Discussions
3.1 Hardness
Hardness of a composite depends on hardness of the rein-
forced particle as well as hardness of the matrix phase. Since
TiB2 ceramic particle has high hardness value, the hardness
of the composite is expected to increase with addition of
TiB2 particles. Vickers microhardness test results are shown
in Fig. 3. It clearly shows that with increase in TiB2 per-
centage in the composite, microhardness increases. This is
in agreement with the observations reported earlier [22, 38,
42]. The reinforcement particle helps to support the con-
tact stress preventing high plastic deformation and abrasion
between contact surfaces. Hence hardness increases with
increase in volume fraction of reinforcement.
3.2 Microstructure of Composites
The microstructure of the prepared composites is seen under
SEM. Figure 4 shows the SEM micrographs of the compos-
ites having different amount of reinforcements. It shows that
the composite is compact and TiB2 particles are almost uni-
formly distributed in the matrix. The bonding of the material
is good resulting in finer grain structure of the composite.
XRD plots of the specimens reinforced with two different
weight percentages of reinforcements, 5.5 wt % of TiB2 and
2.5 % of TiB2 , are shown in Fig. 5. The plots confirm the

Fig. 5 XRD plots for 5.5 %
Al-TiB2 and 2.5 % Al-TiB2
composites
presence of aluminum (largest peaks) and TiB2 in the com-
posites. Peak values are collected over the 2θ range of 20◦
-90◦ . Peak values are obtained for all the prepared samples
and they show varied diffraction peaks. Intensity of alu-
minum and TiB2 is observed at different peaks. Intensity of
peaks of TiB2 increases with increase in percentage of the
reinforcement.
3.3 Wear behavior
Figure 6 shows the variation of wear depth as a function
of applied load for various weight percentages of TiB2
present in as cast LM4-TiB2 metal matrix composites. It is
observed from the figure that wear decreases with increase
in percentage of TiB2 reinforcement. Wear is expressed
in terms of wear depth which indicates removal of mate-
rial from the composite surface. As wear decreases with
increase in weight percentage of reinforcement, wear resis-
tance of Al-TiB2 composites increases with increase of TiB2
weight percentage. This is quite obvious because higher
amount of hard TiB2 particles yields higher hardness of
Fig. 6 Wear as a function of
applied load for various weight
percentages of reinforcement
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the composite and consequently wear resistance increases.
It is also observed that wear depth increases with increase
in applied load for all percentages of reinforcements in the
composites. This is in line with Archard’s wear law. Figure 7
shows the variation of wear depth as function of weight
percentages of TiB2 for different rotational speed of the
counterface roller at a fixed applied load of 25 N. It is seen
that wear depth is higher at higher rotational speed. Since
the tests have been carried out for a fixed duration of 30 min-
utes, higher rotational speed of the counterface roller means
higher sliding distance. As a result, wear depth is more and
the same is in line with Archard’s wear law. It may be noted
here that similar variation of wear behavior with percent-
age of reinforcement has been reported earlier [25, 29, 44]
for composites prepared through in-situ techniques and the
present results are in line with them.
The microstructure study of composites is carried out
after wear test is completed. The wear tracks are analysed by
scanning electron microscopy to study the wear mechanism.
The SEM micrographs of worn surfaces of various weight
percentages for 25N applied load, 400 rpm rotational speed
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Fig. 7 Wear as a function of
weight percentage of TiB2 for
varying rotational speed
and sliding time 30 min. are provided in Fig. 8 to under-
stand the variation of wear surface morphology. The SEM
images exhibit longitudinal grooves and partial irregular pits
that indicate adhesive wear. Some traces of micro-cutting
and micro-ploughing effect are also noticed that suggest
abrasive wear mechanism. Thus both abrasive and adhesive
wear mechanisms are observed with abrasive wear being
predominant in nature.
3.4 Friction Behavior
Figure 9 shows the effect of incorporation of TiB2 into LM4
aluminum metal matrix on its friction behavior. Coefficient
of friction is plotted against weight percentage of TiB2 at
400 rpm rotational speed and for different applied loads. It
is observed that at a certain applied load, friction is high-
est for un-reinforced Al alloy and friction decreases with
Fig. 8 SEM images of worn
surfaces of Al-TiB2 composites
a) 1 % b) 2.5 % c) 4 % d) 5.5 %
increase in weight percentage of reinforcements. This is
due to the presence of the reinforced particulates in com-
posite. The TiB2 particles remain well bonded with the
aluminium matrix during sliding and the aluminium matrix
surrounding the particles gets worn away. As a consequence,
contact occurs between the reinforcing particles and the
steel counter face leading to a decrease in friction with
increase in reinforcements. It is also seen from the plots
that with increase in applied load, friction also increases.
This may be attributed to the fact that at higher load, wear
is more (as seen in Fig. 6). As a result, composite surface
gets roughened and wear debris particles add to plough-
ing mechanism of friction leading to an increase in friction.
At higher rotational speeds, similar trends of increase of
friction are observed. However, the plots are omitted for
brevity. At higher speed, wear is more (as seen in Fig. 7).
This essentially leads to roughening of the surface and

Fig. 9 Coefficient of friction vs
function of weight percentages
of TiB2
debris formation leading to higher friction. Similar variation
of friction behavior with percentage of reinforcement has
been reported earlier [22, 29, 45] for composites prepared
through in-situ techniques and the present results are in line
with them.
4 Conclusions
Aluminium matrix composites reinforced with TiB2 micro
particles are prepared using stir casting method. Tribolog-
ical characterization of the composite is done using block-
on-roller contact configuration in a multi-tribotester against
hardened steel counterface for varying weight percentage
of reinforcement, normal load and speed. TiB2 ceramic
particle has high hardness value, hence hardness of the com-
posite increases with addition of TiB2 particles which is in
line with earlier observations reported in literature. SEM
micrographs reveal that the composite is compact and TiB2
particles are almost uniformly distributed in the matrix.
XRD plots confirm the presence of TiB2 in the compos-
ite. It is found that friction and wear decrease with increase
in percentage of TiB2 reinforcement in the composite. The
observation is in line with the same reported earlier for com-
posites prepared through in-situ methods. It is also observed
that both friction and wear increase with applied load and
speed. SEM micrographs of worn surfaces reveal that both
abrasive and adhesive wear mechanisms are present with
abrasive wear being predominant in nature.
Funding Nil
Conflict of interests The authors declare that they have no conflict
of interest.
Compliance with Ethical Standards
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