Analysis of Dry Sliding Friction and Wear Behavior of Aluminum-Alumina Composites using Taguchi's Techniques

Metal-matrix composites (MMCs) are attracting considerable interest worldwide because of their superior mechanical and tribological properties. This study describes multifactor-based experiments that were applied to research and investigation on dry sliding wear system of stir cast Al-Si10Mg matrix alloy with 5 and 10wt% alumina-reinforced MMCs. The effects of parameters like load, sliding speed, percentage of alumina on the dry sliding wear, and friction coefficient of aluminum MMCs using Taguchi's method are reported. An orthogonal array (L27) and analysis of variance were used to investigate the influence of parameters like normal load, sliding speed, and reinforcement percentage and their interactions on dry sliding wear and friction coefficient of the composites. The major objective was to investigate the parameter that significantly affects the dry sliding wear and friction coefficient. The results show that friction coefficient and wear rate were highly influenced by load, sliding speed, and percentage of alumina whereas the interactions between these parameters, show only a minor influence in MMCs. The worn surfaces of the pins were then analyzed by scanning electron microscopy to study the wear mechanism and to correlate them with wear test results.