Optimization of wear behaviour of AA6061 – SiC – B4C – Fly ash metal matrix composite using response surface methodology

Abstract

The usage of Aluminium metal matrix composite (AMMC) is found in all engineering applications but now particularly it is used as an replacements of traditional metals in the field of defence, automobile, aerospace and under-water applications for socio-economical betterments. To enable this AMMC should have a wide range of mechanical properties which may require to have mutually exclusive properties at an optimal level. This paper discusses about the study of AA6061-SiC-B4C-Fly ash composite made by using stir casting process. The casted samples are then prepared for wear tests and the tests are performed by using pin-on-disc apparatus without any lubrication. Two samples are made with different compositions of Silicon carbide and Boron Carbide along with a constant amount of fly ash. The combination sequence in which the levels of each process parameters like load, sliding speed and sliding distance are to be kept for each experiment are sequenced and designed by using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The observation is that the reinforcement of Al 6061 alloy with SiC, B4C and fly ash is having an influential impact on the wear loss of the AMMC. The incremental raise of SiC and B4C from 5 g each to 10 g each reduces the wear loss of casted composite about 28.03% at optimum operating conditions and at the same time the specific wear rate of the casted samples falls over 10%. This indicates that the addition of SiC and B4C results in improved wear resistance of AMMC.