Improvement of the wear behaviour of Al–Pb alloys by mechanical alloying

In the present work, the effect of mechanical alloying (MA) on the improvement of wear properties of Al–Pb binary alloys is reported. The alloys with Pb ranging from 10 to 18 wt.% were prepared by vacuum sintering mechanically alloyed Al–Pb powder. Optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffractometer and Vickers hardness indentation were used to characterize the microstructure and mechanical properties of Al–Pb alloys prepared. Wear properties of the alloys were characterized by measuring the bulk wear, the wear rate and the wear coefficient under both dry and oil-lubricated test conditions. And the influence of Pb content was evaluated. The obtained results of wear properties of mechanically alloyed Al–Pb alloys were compared with those of similar alloys prepared by powder metallurgy and casting. The present work shows that MA is an effective way of improving microstructure and consequently the wear properties of Al–Pb alloys.