Wear Behaviour of Al-SiCp Metal Matrix Composites and Optimization Using Taguchi Method and Grey Relational Analysis

Shouvik Ghosh, Prasanta Sahoo, Goutam Sutradhar

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India.

DOI: 10.4236/jmmce.2012.1111115                

Abstract

Aluminium metal matrix composite is a relatively new material that has proved its position in automobile, aerospace and other engineering design applications due to its wear resistance and substantial hardness. Need for improved tribological performance has led to the design and selection of newer variants of the composite. The present investigation deals with the study of wear behaviour of Al-SiCp metal matrix composite for varying reinforcement content, applied load, sliding speed and time. Aluminium metal matrix composites reinforced with SiC particles are prepared by liquid metallurgy route using LM6 aluminium alloy and silicon carbide particles (size ~ 37 μm) by varying the weight fraction of SiC in the range of 5% - 10%. The material is synthesized by stir casting process in an electric melting furnace. The materials are then subjected to wear testing in a multitribotester using block on roller configuration. A plan of experiments based on L27 Taguchi orthogonal array is used to acquire the wear data in a controlled way. An analysis of variance is employed to investigate the influence of four controlling parameters, viz., SiC content, normal load, sliding speed and sliding time on dry sliding wear of the composites. It is observed that SiC content, sliding speed and normal load significantly affect the dry sliding wear. The optimal combination of the four controlling parameters is also obtained for minimum wear. The microstructure study of worn surfaces indicates nature of wear to be mostly abrasive.

Keywords

Metal Matrix Composite; Al-SiCp; Wear; Optimization; Grey-Taguchi

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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