A comparison of the sliding wear behavior of a hypereutectic Al–Si alloy prepared by spray-deposition and conventional casting methods

In this study a hypereutectic Al–20Si (wt.%) alloy was synthesized using two different routes: the spray-deposition technique and the conventional casting process. The dry sliding wear behavior of the alloys was investigated under four loads; namely, 8.9, 17.8, 26.7 and 35.6 N. It showed that spray-deposited alloy exhibited an improved wear resistance at the entire applied load range in comparison to the conventional casting alloy. On the basis of observations and analyses on the worn surface and the wear debris, the wear process of the alloys was controlled by different wear mechanism. The dominant wear mechanism for the spray-deposited alloy was oxidative mechanism, and that for the cast alloy was delamination mechanism.