A Comparative Study on Wear Properties of Highly Conductive Materials Commercially Pure Al and Cu

Abstract

A comparative study has been carried out on the wear behavior of commercially pure aluminium and copper of highly used conductive materials under dry sliding environment. Wear tests have been conducted using a standard pin-on-disk apparatus where Al and Cu are treated as pin samples and stainless steel as disc. An applied load of 10N is used for both specimens where the calculated contact stress is active at 0.51 MPa. Furthermore, different loads ranging from 5 to 30 N are used to investigate the other tests. The sliding velocity is considered 0.64 m/s and the sliding distance varies between 150m-3500m. The worn surfaces of the samples before and after wear are analyzed using both optical and scanning electron microscopy. The experimental results show that the wear rate of Al is three and a half times higher by weight and eleven and a half times higher by volume than that of Cu due to its inferior physical and mechanical properties. In addition the coefficient of friction of Al is 1.2 times higher than that of Cu. The worn surfaces under dry sliding condition, Al exhibits higher abrasive wear along with plastic deformation due to thermal softening as Cu has better strength compared to Al. Nevertheless, considering the economic factors and its weight, Al offers better results.

IUBAT Review, 6(2): 77-91