ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Aerospace application on Al 2618 with reinforced - Si N , AlN and Zrb in-
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situ composites
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Mr.N.Mathan Kumar , Dr.S.Senthil Kumaran , Dr.L.A.Kumaraswamidhas
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Author , Research Scholar, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mining Machinery Engineering, Indian
Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India-826004.E-mail:mathannagarajbe@gmail.com
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Author , Professor and Head, R & D Centre, Department of Mechanical Engineering, RVS Educational Trust’s
Group of Institutions, RVS School of Engineering and Technology, Dindigul, Tamilnadu, India- 624005.
E-mail:sskumaran@ymail.com
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Author , Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mining Machinery Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology (ISM), Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India-826004.E-mail:lakdhas1978@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
In this study, the Al 2618 aluminium alloy is reinforced with Si N (Silicon Nitride), AlN
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Aluminium Nitride) & Zrb (Zirconium Boride) in wt. % of (0,2,4,6,8) by stir casting
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process. The tribological and mechanical properties of these composites particles were
investigated under dry sliding conditions. The mechanical properties of the composites is
studied by conducting various test like hardness test, tensile test and compression test to
understand the relationship between the wt. % of reinforcement and the matrix metal. This is
followed by the micro structural study to examine the bond formation and effect of grain size
reduction due to the addition of reinforcement. The Taguchi L orthogonal array is used to
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optimize the process parameters to obtain minimum wear rate and the analysis of variance
ANOVA) was used to investigate the influence of parameter affecting the wear rate. The
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Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis is carried out to understand the wear
mechanism of worn out surfaces and the wear debris. The manipulate of the wt. % of
reinforcements and applied load on the wear rate, wear resistance, specific wear rate,
coefficient of wear rate and the mass loss were premeditated using the pin-on-disk method.
Keywords: Metal-matrix composites, wear testing, Micro structure, Taguchi Method,
ANOVA.
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. INTRODUCTION
Aluminium alloys are used in many engineering applications to their light weight and high
strength characteristics. However, low hardness and consequently low wear resistance limit
their use in some applications [1]. At the present time, aluminium metal matrix composites
have been well recognized and steadily improved because of their advanced engineering
properties, such as their improved wear resistance, low density, specific strength and stiffness
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2]. The improved wear resistance of AMMCs has attracted significant attentions in the field
of tribology. However, the use of single reinforcement in an aluminium matrix may
sometimes compromise the values of its physical properties. Both the mechanical strength
and the wear resistance of composites increase with the addition of reinforcement particulates
to the aluminium matrix alloy. However, the consequent increase in hardness makes