Fuzzy logic algorithm based optimization of the tribological behavior of Al-Gr-Si3N4 hybrid composite

Abstract

The tribological behaviour of LM6 alloy with Graphite, Si3N4 nano particle and Graphite-Si3N4 hybrid composite is investigated in this study. Al-Gr, Al-Si3N4 nano and Al-Gr-Si3N4 hybrid composites were casted by gravity die stir casting to investigate under dry sliding conditions for the wear and frictional characteristics. The wear rate & co-efficient decreased by 25% & 15% for the hybrid composite when compared with the Al-Si3N4 nano composite, whereas very minimal wear rate and co-efficient of friction was observed for Al-Gr. The results show that the Micro Vicker hardness of the Al-Gr-Si3N4 hybrid composite is 16% more than that of the nano composite and no significant variation is observed for Al-Gr and Al-Si3N4 nano composites. SEM was used to analyse the worn surface and subsurface. The predominant wear mechanisms observed were abrasive for the nano composite and adhesive and abrasive mechanism for the hybrid composite. The Al-Gr-Si3N4 hybrid composite wear rate was optimized with fuzzy logic analysis and compared with the experimental data. The fuzzy logic model was developed to evaluate the wear rate of Al-Gr-Si3N4 hybrid composite and with low prediction errors of 4.27%. The ANOVA analysis yielded the optimum parameter conditions for the wear process. The Regression model was used to estimate the relationships among the variables for the wear rate of different composites.