Effect of cobalt and tungsten carbide particles inclusions into the aluminium composite on the hardness and wear properties

Using liquid metallurgy route, Al7075 composites comprising 6, 9, and 12 wt. % WC-Co were developed. When testing composites and Al7075, ASTM standards were followed. Increasing the vol. % of the cermet phase enhances the hardness of Al7075-WC-Co composites, according to the experimental data. The produced composites are analyzed using scanning electron microscopic images and energy dispersive microscopy technique before and after the wear. Improvement of 80.23 % on hardness of the composite are observed over the base alloy. For the composite containing 12 wt. % of WC-Co particulates the wear rate is less than the base alloy and other prepared composites.