Tribological behavior of thermomechanically treated Al–Mg–Si alloy by nanoscratch measurements

•Combination of strength and plasticity by ageing, grain refinement and recovery.•Thermomechanical treatment improves tribological properties.•Deformation improves surface roughness.•Optimum balance between plasticity and wear resistance by ageing after deformation.

Age-hardenable Al–Mg–Si alloys can be strengthened by precipitation hardening along with grain refinement and dislocation density. Low-temperature deformation not only increases the dislocation density but also arrests grain recovery and promotes precipitation hardening. In this investigation, sub-zero temperature rolling, in combination with artificial aging, was performed to achieve strengthening as well as substantial amount of plasticity. The thermomechanically treated alloys were subjected to nanoscratch measurements to study the tribological behavior in terms of plastic energy, recovery index, penetration depth and residual depth. Scratch hardness was measured and utilized to calculate the wear rate, recovery resistance, wear resistance and the wear coefficients using Archard׳s equation.

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