Design of experiments analysis of abrasive friction behavior of Al-TiB2 composites

Abstract

Abstract Present study deals with the abrasive friction behavior of Al-TiB 2 metal matrix composites. Composites have been fabricated through stir-casting method containing three different weight percentages of reinforcement. Abrasive tests have been performed in pin-on disk tribo-meter carrying bonded abrasive silicon carbide papers of three different grades. Friction values are obtained directly from the setup after completion of the each test. Coefficient of friction values are calculated according to the design of experiments based on Taguchi L27 orthogonal array. Weight percentage (wt%) of TiB 2 , load and grade of the abrasive papers have been chosen as design parameters. For each parameter, three different levels are used. Taguchi method is applied on the coefficient of friction values to find out the optimal combination of parameters. Analysis of variance is performed to get the idea about contribution of each parameter and their interactions. Friction during abrasion mostly depends on the abrasive particle size. With increase in the particle size, friction increases. As per ANOVA table, abrasive particle size holds 97.3% contribution in influencing friction under abrasion.