Experimental investigation on mechanical and tribological behaviour of friction stir processed leaded tin bronze alloy

Abstract

Bronze is a copper alloy used in various engineering applications. newlineResearchers have found from the reviewed literature that different types of newlinebronze alloys are bearing materials in internal combustion engines, aerospace newlinepump rotors, and turbines. Among these alloys, Different bronzes, such as tin newlinebronze and leaded bronze, are used as bearing materials for bearing and newlinebushing applications. Most bearings have a bimetal layered structure with newlinesteel material to achieve higher strength, higher loading capacity, and good newlinethermal conductivity. Every tribological component of bronze material newlinefocuses on low Specific Wear rate (SWR) and low Coefficient of Friction newline(CoF), two essential considerations for sliding wear behaviour. newlineHigh-leaded tin bronze bearing material used in the engines fails to newlinemeet the requirement of good wear resistance at higher speeds and high newlineloading conditions. Several mechanical and chemical surface modification newlinemethods have been studied and applied to get good results. In the present newlineresearch work, an attempt was made by the Friction stir processing (FSP) newlinetechnique to modify the surface layer of the bearing alloy efficiently. newlineFSP is a favourable surface modification technique to improve and newlinemodify the microstructure and change the composition at the selected surface newlinethrough controlled plastic deformation. The modification of the surface results newlinein fine grain structure and hardness that enables wear resistance. newlineFSP Experiments are conducted using high carbon and high newlinechromium alloy steel with a cylindrical pin and a shoulder diameter of 6mm newlineand 18mm, respectively. newline