Tribological behaviour of steel backed Al–Sn strip prepared via spray atomisation–deposition–rolling route

In recent times, considerable effort has been put into develop process routes for making steel backed aluminium alloy strips for automotive bearing applications. Al–Sn alloys are considered to be potential candidates owing to their acceptable load bearing capacity with improved fatigue and wear resistance. In the present investigation, Al–xSn (x=0, 10 and 20 wt-%) alloys were spray deposited on a steel substrate, and the resulting laminated strips were subjected to various degrees of warm rolling. The tribological performance of the steel backed Al–Sn strip was evaluated against bearing steel under fretting contacts. The fretting wear behaviour of the steel backed and warm rolled Al–10 wt-%Sn strips exhibits a decrease in wear rate with increasing amount of rolling. Scanning electron microscopy–energy dispersion spectroscopy (SEM–EDS) analyses reveal that the tribo-oxidation and adhesive wear are dominant material removal mechanisms on Al–Sn worn surfaces, while tribo-oxidation predominantly contributes to wear of pure Al.