Optimization of Dry-Sliding Wear Parameters on Lanthanum Hexa Aluminate Reinforced Magnesium AZ91E Composites Using Grey Relation Analysis

Abstract

This work confers to the preparation of Magnesium metal matrix composites reinforced with Lanthanum Hexa-aluminate nanoparticles by a stir casting technique and the tribological characteristics of the composites in dry condition were investigated. A Comparison is also made with AZ91E magnesium alloy and the prepared composites for the assessment of wear behavior. A design of experiments based on the Taguchi technique is used to collect data in a controlled manner. A L25 orthogonal array is used to investigate the effect of wear parameters such as Percentage of Reinforcement, Sliding Speed, Applied Load, and Sliding Distance on dry sliding wear of composites. The aim of the model was to investigate dry sliding wear with "smaller is better" characteristics. The results showed that sliding distance has the largest effect on wear, while the load is the most important factor in friction response. In GRA analysis, the combined effect of wear and frictional force is considered and the optimum combination is identified (S5 L1 D1 R4). The percent of the contribution of load, L (60.97 %) was known to be the most important factor influencing performance to wear. The % reinforcement, R (31.17%) was found to be the 2nd most influencing factor, followed by sliding distance, D (4.81%), and sliding velocity S (0.25%). The worn surfaces of fabricated composites in the best and worst conditions were examined using scanning electron microscopy for understanding the wear mechanism.