Abstract
A comprehensive study of the tribological performance of the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu/Al2O3 composite and its matrix alloy is presented in this paper, with a specific emphasis to identify and model the applicable wear conditions where the composite provides a minimum of 50% reduction in wear rate and 25% lowering of the friction coefficient. Two-body abrasion experiments following Taguchi L27 orthogonal design have been performed separately on alloy and composite materials, both prepared by the stir casting method. The influence of crucial control factors including silicon carbide (SiC) abrasive size, load, sliding distance, and velocity on the percentage variations of wear rates and friction coefficients between alloy and composite have been studied using the analysis of variance technique and full quadratic regression method. The dominant control factors are identified as abrasive size, load, and the interaction between abrasive size and load. This has been verified by establishing the influence of abrasive size and load on variations of wear mechanisms like microcutting, microploughing, and delamination, identified by means of in-depth characterization of worn surfaces and generated debris for both alloy and composite. The selection of applicable tribological condition for the composite has been accomplished by adopting the multi-response optimization technique based on combined desirability approach to obtain concurrent optimization of the percentage variations of wear rates and friction coefficients. Predictive models correlating the superiority of tribological performance of composite with abrasion conditions have been developed, and these are found to be accurate (errors <10%), as determined by confirmatory experiment.
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Acknowledgements
The authors recognize the support obtained from the Centre of Excellence on Microstructurally Designed Advanced Materials Development under TEQIP-II, IIEST Shibpur. The assistance granted from DST-FIST to set up Advanced Tribology Laboratory under the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIEST Shibpur is also highly appreciated.
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Santanu SARDAR. He is a Ph.D. scholar in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, India. He obtained his B.E. degree in mechanical from IIEST Shibpur (formerly, known as B.E. College, Shibpur) and completed his M.Tech. in mechanical engineering from National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, India. Prior to joining the Ph.D. program in IIEST Shibpur, he served as a deputy manager in Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (a PSU under Ministry of Defence, India).
Santanu Kumar KARMAKAR. He obtained his B.E. (mechanical engineering) degree from the B.E. College, Shibpur in 1983 and M.M.E. (production engineering) from Jadavpur University in 1987. He completed his Ph.D. in IIT Delhi in 1993 in the area of tribology. He developed a State-of-the-Art Advanced Tribology Laboratory with the aid of DST-FIST Fund of Govt. of India and published several articles in reputed journals. His research area includes micro and bio-tribology, friction and wear modelling, and machine design. He presently holds a professorship position in the Department of Mechanical Engineering in IIEST Shibpur and also serves as the Dean of Alumni Affairs & External Relations in the same institute.
Debdulal DAS. He obtained his B.E. (metallurgy engineering) degree from B.E. College, Shibpur in 1995, M. Tech. (metallurgy) from IIT Kharagpur in 1997 and his Ph.D. from IIEST Shibpur in 2011. He published seventy research articles in archival journals and peer reviewed conference proceedings. His present h-index is 18. His primary research interest is in the domains of structure-property correlation, tribology, fatigue, and metal matrix composite. Dr. DAS is presently an associate professor in the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering in IIEST Shibpur, India.
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Sardar, S., Karmakar, S.K. & Das, D. Identification and modelling of applicable wear conditions for stir cast Al-composite. Friction 8, 847–873 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-019-0302-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-019-0302-6