Synergistic Improvement of Mechanical and Wear Properties of Magnesium by Reinforcing with Aluminum, Cobalt, Chromium, Copper, and Iron (AlCoCrCuFe) High Entropy Alloy

The inferior resistance to wear behavior of magnesium hinders its applications in many fields though it is lighter in weight and has good structural properties. So, the current research aims to develop a novel wear-resistant magnesium metal matrix composite with high entropy alloy (HEA) as reinforcement. Powder metallurgy route is adopted to develop the proposed metal-metal composite with varying percentages of arc melted aluminum, cobalt, chromium, copper, and iron (AlCoCrCuFe) HEA particles (reinforcement). Pin on disk tribometer is utilized to understand the abrasive wear behavior of developed composite with varying applied load of 10 to 30 N and constant sliding distance of 1000 m. The surface roughness of counter disk parts ranges from 100 to 200 µm. Results depict that addition of HEA particles showcases drastic improvement in wear resistance of the magnesium. Herein, wear resistance of composite increases up to 54% at wear condition of 200 µm size abrasive medium at an applied load of 30 N; likewise, around 56% improvement is observed for 100 µm grit size. Surface morphology analysis on worn-out surfaces depicts abrasive and delamination as the dominant mechanism during wear. The worn surfaces confirm that the addition of HEA with magnesium (Mg) improves the wear resistance significantly. These findings demonstrate the potential of HEA reinforced Mg composites for use in lightweight structural components subjected to severe wear conditions in automotive and aerospace applications.