Tribological behavior of thermomechanically treated Al-Mg-Si alloy by nanoscratch measurements

Age-hardenable Al-Mg-Si alloys can be strengthened by precipitation hardening along with grain refinement and dislocation density. Low-temperature deformation not only increases the dislocation density but also arrests grain recovery and promotes precipitation hardening. In this investigation, subzero temperature rolling, in combination with artificial aging, was performed to achieve strengthening as well as substantial amount of plasticity. The thermomechanically treated alloys were subjected to nanoscratch measurements to study the tribological behavior in terms of plastic energy, recovery index, penetration depth and residual depth. Scratch hardness was measured and utilized to calculate the wear rate, recovery resistance, wear resistance and the wear coefficients using Archard's equation. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.