Influence of the Reinforcing Elements on the Wear Behavior of Al/(Sic+Graphite) Composites Elaborated by Spark Plasma Sintering Technology

The paper presents the experimental results regarding the influence of the reinforcing elements on the wear behavior of Al-matrix composites discontinuously reinforced by SiC and Graphite. This antifriction composite material is processed by Reactive Mechanically Alloyed and then by Spark Plasma Sintering technology. In order to optimize the processing technology, especially the sintering parameters, the Spark Plasma Sintering process was applied because of its advantageous aspects: lower sintering temperatures, shorter sintering time and higher properties values of the sintered material vs. the corresponding ones obtained by the classical sintering route. The authors realized a comparative analysis on the wear behavior of the researched composite materials.