Dry sliding wear behavior of Al/Gr/SiC hybrid metal matrix composites by Taguchi techniques

Abstract

In the present study, hybrid composites of Al6061 matrix with 3wt% graphite and varying composition of 3-9wt% SiCp in steps of 3wt% were prepared by liquid metallurgy route. The cast hybrid composites were solution heat treated at temperature of 530°C for 6 hours followed by ageing at a temperature of 175°C for 6 hours. The wear and frictional properties of hybrid metal matrix composites were studied by conducting dry sliding wear test using Pin on Disc machine as per ASTM G-99 standard. The experiments were conducted by adopting the Taguchi technique with an L9 orthogonal array and analysis of variance approach was employed to evaluate the effect of wear parameters such as load, percentage reinforcement and sliding distance on wear rate of hybrid composites. Thesignificant effectoftheseparameters onthewearrate ofhybridcompositeswas studiedin detail andexperimentalresults showed thattheappliedloadhad a most significant effect on thewearrateofthecompositesthan thatofslidingdistanceand reinforcement. The worn surfaces of the samples were examined by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) micrographs to analyze the nature of wear mechanism and to study significant factors on wear rate.