%0 Journal Article
%T Tribological Performance Optimization of Al-7.5% SiCp Composites Using the Taguchi Method and Grey Relational Analysis
%A Shouvik Ghosh
%A Prasanta Sahoo
%A Goutam Sutradhar
%J Journal of Composites
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/274527
%X The present study considers an experimental study of tribological performance of Al-7.5% SiCp metal matrix composite and optimization of tribological testing parameters based on the Taguchi method coupled with grey relational analysis. A grey relational grade obtained from grey relational analysis is used as a performance index to study the behaviour of Al-7.5% SiCp MMC with respect to friction and wear characteristics. The tribological experiments are carried out by utilizing the combinations of tribological test parameters based on the L27 Taguchi orthogonal design with three test parameters, namely, load, speed, and time. The material Al-7.5% SiCp metal matrix composite is developed by reinforcing LM6 aluminium alloy with 7.5% (by weight) SiC particle of 400 mesh size (~37£¿¦Ìm) in an electric melting furnace. It is observed that sliding time has a significant contribution in controlling the friction and wear behaviour of Al-7.5% SiCp MMC. Furthermore, all the interactions between the parameters have significant influence on tribological performance. A confirmation test is also carried out to verify the accuracy of the results obtained through the optimization problem. In addition, a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) test is performed on the wear tracks to study the wear mechanism. 1. Introduction In recent years, metal matrix composites have gained popularity for use in industrial applications. The metal matrix composites have become increasingly desirable to engineers, largely due to improved toughness, strength, and stiffness properties offered by these materials relative to the unreinforced base metals. Mostly light metals such as aluminium, magnesium, and their alloys have received the commercial recognition due to their relatively low cost and easy processing. Arguably, aluminium based composites have shown performance improvements in a variety of applications requiring high strength, low mass, and tailored thermal properties. In the past years, many researchers have studied the friction and wear behaviour of Al based composites. Mostly, researchers have studied the friction and wear behaviour for sliding contact [1¨C6]. Some of the researchers have studied the abrasive wear behaviour for the same [7¨C12]. The effect of heat treatment [13, 14] and temperature change [15] is also studied by some researchers. Ma et al. [1] conducted wear test with block-on-ring configuration for Al-20% SiCp (particulate) and Al-50% SiCp. From the tests, they reported that wear increases with the increase in load and sliding speed, while wear decreases with the
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jcomp/2013/274527/