Experimental Investigation of Friction and Wear Behavior of AL7075-TiO2-B4C using RSM, ANN and Desirability Function

Abstract

Metal Matrix Composites (MMC) are widely used in high strength and light weight applications. AL7075 featuring high fatigue strength, good corrosion and wear resistance makes it to employ as a good vehicle building material and also finds it usage in some important engine components which are subjected to constant wear. In this study, dry sliding wear behaviour of hybrid MMC formed by reinforcement of aluminium 7075 with B4C and TiO2 at 3% and 3% weight fraction respectively is investigated. Reinforced particles are powdered using ball mill, reduced to nano size and uniformly dispersed in aluminium matrix using stir casting method. Specimen was prepared according to ASTM standards and wear tests were conducted. Experiments were conducted with keeping force, speed and distance as input parameters while Coefficient of Friction (CoF) and average wear rate as the output parameters. RSM and ANN models were developed to simulate the experiments. The surface which was subjected to test evidenced that presence of TiO2 and B4C particles protected the material to a certain extent. The tests revealed that wear rate and CoF were greatly influenced by force and distance followed by the speed of the rotating disc. The predictions from RSM and ANN models are also correlated well with the experimental data. ANN model also showed better accuracy and capability for predicting the wear rate and CoF. By desirability function, it was found that the material performed well at a keeping force of 38.9 N, speed of 300rpm and distance of 1000 rpm.