Evaluation of the tribological properties of an Al–Mg–Si alloy processed by severe plastic deformation

Aluminum alloys are widely used as structural materials in various types of applications due to light weight, excellent strength, corrosion resistance, formability. However, problems may arise in those applications that require high wear resistance. With the aim to study the effect of the severe plastic deformation on the tribological properties in an aluminum alloy; in this work a commercial Al–Mg–Si alloy under two initial microstructural conditions has been deformed at room temperature by multi-pass 90° equal channel angular pressing (ECAP). After the processing each sample was evaluated by means of microhardness measurements and the microstructural condition was determinate by electron microscopy. Subsequently sliding wear test was performed in a ball on disk configuration under lubricated conditions. It was found a wear resistance increase with the rise in the deformation promoted by number of extrusion passes and the initial microstructural condition. The dominant wear mechanisms were identified and correlated with mechanical properties, microstructure and the level of deformation.