Mechanical and tribological properties of 5A06 aluminum alloy at low temperature

Abstract There are significant differences in the mechanical and tribological properties of 5A06 aluminum alloys subjected to a wide temperature range, and the related research has received very limited attention so far. In this paper, the mechanical properties of 5A06 aluminum alloy were obtained by tensile test at temperature as low as 77K, which laid a foundation for analyzing its tribological properties. Then, dry linear reciprocating sliding wear tests were performed on a ball-on-disc tribometer to explore the friction behavior and wear mechanism of 5A06 aluminum alloy at different temperatures from low temperature (173K) to room temperature (293K). Finally, the wear morphology and chemical composition of the worn surface were characterized by an optical 3D measurement system and a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive spectroscopy. The results indicate that the ambient temperature affects the tribological properties of 5A06 aluminum alloy by changing its mechanical properties and the dissipation of friction heat. Compared with 293K, the coefficient of friction decreases by 14.66% and the wear rate decreases by 70.79% at 173K. The main wear mechanisms of 5A06 aluminum alloy are delamination wear and oxidation wear at 293K and 273K, and a combination of abrasive wear, adhesive wear and oxidation wear at 223K and 173K.