THE ROLE OF POROSITY IN THE DRY SLIDING WEAR OF A SINTERED FERROUS ALLOY

Porosity is the distinguishing feature of sintered materials and has a negative effect on their mechanical properties. The influence of porosity on the wear behaviour of materials depends on the wear conditions and is not clearly identified. In the present investigation, the evolution of the dry sliding wear resistance of a sintered Distaloy AE with increasing total vol.% porosity (in the range 9-22 vol.%) was studied. Under certain conditions and depending on the pore size, porosity was observed to be beneficial for wear resistance by entrapping the wear debris and preventing the formation of large abrasive agglomerates. Pore filling superficially reinforced the material and resulted in diminishing plastic deformation and particle detachment around the pores.