Title: Tribological behaviour of aluminium/boron carbide (B₄C)/graphite (Gr) hybrid metal matrix composite under dry sliding motion by using ANOVA

Authors: V. Suresh; N. Hariharan; S. Paramesh; M. Prasath Kumar; P. Arun Prasath

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, SCAD Institute of Technology, Palladam, Coimbatore, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, SCAD Institute of Technology, Palladam, Coimbatore, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, SCAD Institute of Technology, Palladam, Coimbatore, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, SCAD Institute of Technology, Palladam, Coimbatore, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, SCAD Institute of Technology, Palladam, Coimbatore, India

Abstract: The modern study deals with the fabrication of aluminium/boron carbide/graphite hybrid metal matrix composite and investigation on its tribological behaviour. The composite incorporated 3 wt% of B₄C and 4 wt% of Gr particles with a size 200 mesh fabricated through stir casting. The microstructure of this composite inspected and uniform distribution of reinforced particles in the matrix observed. Wear experiments conducted on pin-on-disc tester based on Taguchi's L₉ orthogonal arrays using three process parameters such as load, sliding velocity and distance; each varied for three levels. Loads of 20 N, 40 N, 60 N; velocities of 2 m/s, 4 m/s, 6 m/s and distances of 1,000 m, 2,000 m, 3,000 m considered for analysing the wear behaviour of composite. The main parameters originated out using signal-to-noise ratio by selecting 'smaller-the-better' characteristics for wear rates and COF. Worn out surfaces of the composite specimen were analysed using SEM for predicting the wear mechanism. The materials with ALMMCs have better wear characteristics.

Keywords: metal matrix composites; hybrid MMCs; stir casting; microstructure; wear; signal-to-noise ratio; SNR; aluminium; boron carbide; graphite; COF; coefficient of friction; analysis of variance; ANOVA; scanning electron microscopy; SEM; tribology; Taguchi methods; orthogonal arrays; load; sliding velocity; distance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2016.079194

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2016 Vol.53 No.3/4, pp.204 - 217

Received: 04 Feb 2016
Accepted: 11 Mar 2016
Published online: 22 Sep 2016 *

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