EFFECT OF CHILLS ON TRIBOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR OF ALUMINUM-GARNET-CARBON HYBRID COMPOSITES

The demand of high quality casting with good performance, light-weight materials is being increased in automotive and aircraft industrial applications to achieve fuel economy. Application of the metallic chills with high volumetric heat capacity is one of the primary method to develop required sound quality casings. In the present research work LM 13 aluminum alloy matrix hybrid composites having 3 to 12wt% of garnet in steps of 3wt% and constant 3wt% of Carbon are developed by using chills to improve directional solidification. Experimental investigations are carried out to study the effect of chilling on microstructure, dry sliding wear and sand abrasion behavior of the composite samples. Copper, steel, iron metallic and silicon carbide nonmetallic chills were used to study the tribological behavior of the samples and compared the same with non-chill cast specimens. ASTM standard specimens taken from chill end of the casting were tested for tribological behavior.