Influence of heat treatment on the wear resistance of the ZnAl40Cu1.5Ti1.5 alloy

Zn-Al-Cu alloys are predominantly used due to their tribological properties. One of the crucial issues related to the use of Zn-Al alloys is their dimensional instability. Partial replacement of copper with titanium greatly contributes to the reduction of the dimensional instability issue. The study involved the ZnAl40Cu1.5Ti1.5 alloy. In this work, microstructure and wear properties of ZnAl40Cu1.5Ti1.5 alloy were studied in both as-cast and heat treated conditions. The heat treatment was performed by solution treatment at a temperature of 385°C for 24 hours, quenching in cold water and artificial aging at 125°C for 3 hours. The hardness tests enabled to specify the optimum ageing time span, which amounts to 3 hours. Wear tests indicated that the ZnAl40Cu1.5Ti1.5 alloy is characterized with high wear resistance. It was also observed that the applied heat treatment increases the wear resistance of the experimental alloy.