Fabrication and Characterization of Sn-Based Babbitt Alloy Nanocomposite Reinforced with Al2O3 Nanoparticles/Carbon Steel Bimetallic Material

Abstract

Sn-based Babbitt alloy was reinforced with alumina nanoparticles to prepare a novel class of nanocomposites. The route of liquid metallurgy in combination with stirring mechanism was chosen to prepare nanocomposites with three different loadings of alumina nanoparticles, i.e., 0.25 wt%, 0.50 wt% and 1.0 wt%. The molten mixture of metallic matrix and nanoparticles was poured over carbon steel substrate for solidification to manufacture a bimetallic material for bearing applications. The underlying aim was to understand the effect of nanoparticle addition on microstructural variation of Sn-based Babbitt alloy as well as bimetallic microstructural interface. The addition of 0.25 wt% and 0.50 wt% alumina nanoparticles significantly affected both the morphology and distribution of Cu6Sn5 hard phase in solid solution, which changed from needle and asterisk shape to spherical morphology. Nanocomposites containing up to 0.50 wt% nanoparticles showed more improvement in tensile strength than the one containing 1.0 wt% nanoparticles, due to nanoparticle-agglomeration and micro-cracks at the interface. The addition of 0.5 wt% nanoparticles significantly improved the wear resistance of Sn-based Babbitt alloy.

Effects of the Processing Parameters of Friction Stir Processing on the Microstructure, Hardness and Tribological Properties of SnSbCu Bearing Alloy

“…Leszczyńska-Madej et al [ 22 ] proved that changes in the morphology and size of the intermetallic phases obtained thanks to Babbit heat treatment favor improvements of the properties. The latest works on tin Babbits are focused on the production of composites based on these alloys [ 23 ] or composites infiltrated with a tin Babbitt alloy [ 24 ].…”

Wear Analysis of an Advanced Al–Al2O3 Composite Infiltrated with a Tin-Based Alloy

“…The tribological characterization was conducted under different conditions, especially 40, 50, 60 N loads. These conditions were not presented in the literature by other authors investigating tin-based babbitt alloys reinforced with microor nanoparticles [27][28][29][30][31].…”

“…The incorporation of nanoparticles as reinforcement in the babbitt alloys has been proven by various studies [30,31] as an improvement in tribological and mechanical properties in the nanocomposites. A study focused in investigating the influence of alumina nanoparticles on microstructural variation of tin-based babbitt as well as bimetallic microstructural interface suggest that the addition of 0.25 and 0.50 wt% alumina nanoparticles improves the mechanical and tribological properties and affects the morphology and distribution of Cu 6 Sn 5 hard phase in the solid solution of the nanocomposite [30]. The results presented in another study of white babbitt coatings modified by carbon nanotubes show increase in the wear resistance of tested materials [31].…”

Development and Optimization of Tin/Flux Mixture for Direct Tinning and Interfacial Bonding in Aluminum/Steel Bimetallic Compound Casting

“…Solid steel cylindrical specimens of 59 mm diameter and 4 mm thickness were grinded with emery papers up to 400 grade. Flux was prepared by mixing zinc chloride, sodium chloride, ammonium chloride and hydrochloric acid in water, as reported in detail in our previous work [ 9 , 16 ]. Five different ratios of tin powder to flux were used for tinning process for bonding liquid Al-based bearing alloy with solid steel substrate—i.e., 1:1, 1:5, 1:10, 1:15, and 1:20.…”