Properties and abrasive wear of TiB2/Al-4%Cu composites produced by hot isostatic pressing

Al-4 wt%Cu alloy and composites reinforced with 5, 10, 15 and 20 vol% TiB2 particles were prepared by hot isostatic pressing. The density, mechanical properties and abrasive wear behavior of these specimens were evaluated. Density measurement revealed that the hot isostatic pressing (HIP) process had resulted in fully densified unreinforced alloy, and composites containing TiB2 particles up to 15%. Increasing the reinforcement particle content to 20% led to a slight reduction in the density of composites due to higher porosity. Tensile and hardness tests showed that the yield strength and hardness tend to increase with increasing TiB2 volume content. Finally, two-body abrasive wear tests showed that the wear resistance of composites increases dramatically with increasing the reinforcement volume content. This was due to a strong particle-matrix bonding, and to the high hardness of the TiB2 particles.