Wear behaviour of lead alloy/zircon particulate composites

Abstract

This paper presents and analyses some results obtained in wear and hardness tests performed on a lead-antimony alloy dispersed with zircon particles, with and without homogenizing heat treatment. The zircon content ranged from 0% to 5% by weight and the duration of heat treatment ranged from O to 5 hours. It was observed that for each composite, wear increases monotonically with wear load and with wear test speed. Increasing the zircon content improves wear resistance, although this improvement diminishes as higher zircon contents are reached. Heat treatment at 200°C for up to 5 hours improves the wear resistance of the composites, although for the unreinforced lead alloy, the greatest benefit is achieved within the first hour of heat treatment. Copyright ©1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.