Abstract
Lightweight materials are extremely needed for the manufacturing of industrial parts and are used in aerospace, automobile body shops, biomedical instruments, etc. Aluminium alloy is one of the light-weight materials, and it fulfills the industrial demands based on their natural strength/stiffness, enhanced temperature permanence, superior wear, and corrosion resistance. This experimental work considered aluminium alloy (AA8014) with reinforced particles of silicon nitride (Si3N4) and zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) for preparing aluminium hybrid composites. Hybrid composites are prepared by a stir casting process involving different process parameters. L27 orthogonal array is used for optimizing the stir casting parameters with the assistance of the statistical Taguchi approach. Stir casting parameters are the percentage of reinforcement (4%, 6%, and 8%), stir speed (400 rpm, 500 rpm, and 600 rpm), stir time (20 min, 25 min, and 30 min), and molten temperature (700 oC, 800 oC, and 900 oC). Mechanical performance such as wear and microhardness of the hybrid composites is evaluated. Minimum wear and higher microhardness are encountered at a percentage of reinforcement = 6%, stir speed = 400 rpm, stir time = 30 min, and molten temperature = 900°C. In wear analysis, the percentage of reinforcement highly influences the wear properties (7.06% contribution). In microhardness analysis, molten temperature parameter is the extreme influencer (11.15% contribution).
Highlights
The aircraft, marine, and automobile sectors need more light-weight materials for the construction of structural work and manufacturing of components [1]
When the proportion of Si3N4 particles was increased, the microhardness of the composite material raised by 25%, which could be attributed to a rise in the hard ceramic phase. e compressive strength of concrete increased significantly by 1.1 times when the proportion of Si3N4 particles was increased, which may be attributed to the hard ceramic reinforcement’s workability at elevated loads
Aluminium and its alloys are widely used in metal matrix composites due to their superior properties, namely, low electrical resistance, elevated strength, and excellent corrosion resistance [8]. e addition of reinforced particles enhanced the wear properties of the aluminium alloys. e stir casting process is highly involved in the preparation of composites [9]
Summary
The aircraft, marine, and automobile sectors need more light-weight materials for the construction of structural work and manufacturing of components [1]. E compressive strength of concrete increased significantly by 1.1 times when the proportion of Si3N4 particles was increased, which may be attributed to the hard ceramic reinforcement’s workability at elevated loads. E addition of reinforced particles enhanced the wear properties of the aluminium alloys. In the stir casting process, the reinforced particles are blended homogeneously and extremely increase the hardness of the material [15]. E aim of this experimental work was to prepare aluminium hybrid composites such as using aluminium alloy (AA8014) with reinforced particles (silicon nitride and zirconium dioxide) through the stir casting process.Taguchi approach was used to optimize the stir casting parameters and improved the wear and microhardness of the hybrid composites [18]. Taguchi’s optimization technique is used to identify the commendable parameter combinations for the selected responses
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