Effects of T6 heat treatment on mechanical, abrasive and erosive-corrosive wear properties of eutectic Al-Si alloy

The abrasive and erosive-corrosive properties of eutectic Al-Si (LM6) alloy were studied. Microstructural features of the alloy were altered by controlling the T6 heat treatment parameter, and their influence on hardness, strength and elongation, and response of the samples in erosion-corrosion and abrasion conditions were studied. Characteristics of the Al-Si alloy samples were compared with those of Al conventionally used in agricultural machineries. Fabrication of a typical component using the Al-Si alloy was also explored in order to understand the feasibility of using the alloy system for the envisaged applications. The study suggests the response of the samples in different conditions to be greatly influenced by parameters like chemical composition, microstructural features and applied load, traversal distance and test environment. The performance of even the as cast Al-Si alloy is far superior to that of the conventional Al samples, while the T6 heat treated Al-Si alloy shows improved performance. Accordingly, the as-cast as well as T6 heat treated Al-Si alloy has potential for applications in agriculture as a replacement for the conventionally used Al.