Journal of Material Sciences & Engineering

Wear Behavior of Al-SiC-Cu Metal Matrix Composites Prepared by Stir Casting and Optimization by using Taguchi Method

Abstract

Singh RK, Kumar D and Kumar A

Aluminium Metal Matrix composites is a relatively attractive material for automobile, aerospace and other engineering application due to its mechanical and tribological properties. To improve wear resistance and mechanical properties has led to design and selection of newer variants of the composite. The present investigation deal with the study of wear behavior of Al-SiC-Cu MMCs for varying reinforcement content, applied load, sliding speed, and distance. Aluminium MMCs reinforced with three different percentage of reinforcement 3, 6, 9% wt. SiC and 0.5, 0.75, 1.00% wt. Cu prepared by stir casting method. Wear test was performed by using “pin on disk” apparatus. A plan of experiment based on L27 Taguchi orthogonal array is used to acquire the wear data. An analysis of variance is employed to investigate the influence of four controlling parameters, SiC content, Normal load, sliding speed and sliding distance 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 surface indicates nature of wear to be mostly abrasive.