Mechanical behaviour and tribological properties of cenosphere-copper composites using design of experiments

Abstract

Pure copper (Cu) was strengthened with 30, 40, and 50 wt% of fly-ash cenosphere (Csp) particles by fabrication through powder metallurgy route. The effects of Csp particles loading on microstructure, density, hardness, tensile strength and tribological behaviour of Csp/Cu composites were investigated. Dry sliding wear tests were evaluated using a pin-on-disk wear apparatus at diverse loads, sliding velocity and sliding distance. Hardness and tensile strength measurements showed a critical Csp loading of 50 wt% at which a hardness peak and high strength were attained. The design of experimental approach using Taguchi technique was utilized to predict the friction and wear behaviour against variable parameters such as reinforcement loading (A), sliding velocity (B), applied normal load (C), and sliding distance (D). Analysis of variance (Anova) was applied to verify the rationality of the established model. It was perceived that the variable (D) has a significant effect on specific wear rate shadowed by variables (C), (A), and (B) respectively. However, the Anova data on the friction coefficient revealed that the variable (A) has the highest significance on friction coefficient followed by variables (C), (B), and (D) respectively.