Dry sliding wear analysis OF Al5083/CNT/Ni/MoB hybrid composite using DOE Taguchi method

Abstract

Aluminium alloys with its low density and high strength to weight ratio have extensive applications in aerospace, marine and automobile industries. In this work Al5083/CNT/MoB/Ni hybrid composite has been compo casted to improve the corrosion resistance and to compensate the well-known low strength, deficient hardness and inadequate wear resistance of Aluminium alloys. Fabrication of the hybrid is done with 1.5 wt % of CNT, 8 wt% of Ni and varying wt% of MoB from 1 to 4 (composite A to D). Dry sliding wear analysis of composites is conducted on a pin on disc tribotester at room temperature using Taguchi L16 orthogonal array with varying load (10 N, 20 N, 30 N and 40 N), sliding velocity (0.5 m, 1.5 m, 2.5 m and 3.5 m) and wt% of MoB (1–4) as parameters. The significance and contributions of parameters on wear behavior is investigated by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the correlation between parameters is obtained by a regression equation. Weight percentage of MoB is found to be the most contributing parameter (57.09%), followed by sliding velocity and load. The paper includes study and analysis of wear rate, micro wear mechanisms and transfer of materials involved with the tribosystem. Analysis of Optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy and EDX of the worn surface reveals that there is a shift in wear mechanism from adhesive to abrasive with increase in wt% of MoB. The three body rolling abrasion, the oxide tribo layer and the formation of Mechanical Mixed Layer (MML) between the sliding surfaces are observed to be the reasons for the decreased wear rate of the optimum composite. The result from experimentation shows close tolerance with statistical analysis.