Non-Equilibrium Solidification in Cu-Mg-Sn Alloys for Tribological Applications

Mg-containing bronzes have received little attention in general technological applications due to their relatively complex processing conditions. However, Mg is one of the few metallic elements which may exhibit good tribological compatibility with iron and steel and as such is a possible candidate to replace lead in sliding bearing materials. This work describes the casting of such alloys in the form of thin ingots to produce cold rolled strip, as is done for commercial Al-Sn-based ductile triboalloys. Sound ingots could be produced with simple laboratory equipment, yielding slabs in the compositional range of Cu1Mg1Sn, Cu1Mg5Sn, Cu5Mg1Sn and Cu5Mg5Sn. Cooling curves were monitored by embedded thermocouples. Invariant points could be identified after appropriate filtering of the signal but did not correspond to the ternary equilibrium. Segregation and non-equilibrium phases were confirmed by metallography.