Production and wear properties of metal matrix composites reinforced with boride particles

• Production of MMC reinforced with in situ boride particles have been investigated.
• Higher reinforcement percentage of borides was produced by a filtration technique.
• Hardness of boride particles was measured as approximately 3050 Hv.
• The cumulative weight loss of the composite was lower than of the matrix alone.

Production and properties of metal matrix composites reinforced with in situ cuboidal boride particles have been investigated. Boron 3 weight (wt.)% was dissolved in an aluminium copper alloy at 1400 °C through direct addition of boron oxide (B2O3) which resulted in 6.14 volume (vol.)% reinforcing phase of cuboidal boride particles in the alloy. Higher reinforcement volume per cent of in situ boride particles in the Al–Cu matrix has been produced by using a filtration device. Metallographic examinations, optical microscopy, and a wet chemistry analysis technique for determination of boron content have been used to reveal the structure and the volume fraction of the reinforcement phase. The wear behaviour of the composite and matrix were investigated using a pin-on-disk tester under different conditions. Results showed that average cumulative weight loss of the new composite can be decreased by 68% with addition of 33 vol.% of cuboidal boride particles into the Al–Cu matrix.