Reciprocating wear tests of Al-Si/SiCp composites: A study of the effect of stroke length

The aim of the work described here was to find evidence for the influence of stroke length on the reciprocating wear of aluminium matrix composites. For this purpose, two kinds of tests were performed: reciprocating ball-on-plane geometry experiments to apply stroke in the millimetre range, and fretting tests to study the strokes in the micrometer scale. The relationships between the dissipated energy and the wear volume were established to compare these two different scale tests. The results are discussed in terms of energy approach and of the comparison of the wear mechanisms observed on the wear scars resulting from both tests.