Fabrication and Modelling of Tribological Performance of Al-Si/12Al2O3/2MoS2 Composite using Taguchi Technique

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of mechanical, microstructural and dry sliding wear behaviour of Al-Si/2wt%MoS2, Al-Si/12wt%Al2O3, and Al-Si/12wt% Al2O3/2wt%MoS2 composites that prepared using the stir-casting route. To avoid friction and wear at the interfaces of materials, an attempt has been made by adding solid lubricant MoS2 to build such a self-lubricating composite with Al-matrix. The tribological analysis has been described based on the Taguchi orthogonal array (L27). Three variables combination such as sliding velocity, sliding distance and contact pressure are used for this study to determine the tribological responses, i.e. wear rate and coefficient of friction. The properties of composites were improved by increasing the weight % of MoS2 and Al2O3. The tensile strength of Al-Si/2MoS2, Al-Si/12Al2O3, and Al-Si/12 Al2O3/2MoS2 composites is 6.02%, 12.46%, and 2.44% compared to the base matrix. The addition of MoS2 helps the hybrid composite to attain better tribological properties with a slightly lower specific strength. Analysis of variance showed that the composites such as Al-Si/2 MoS2 and Al-Si/12Al2O3/2MoS2 were strongly influenced by the pressure in wear rate. Similarly, sliding velocity affects the coefficient of friction for Al-Si/2MoS2. Wear tracks formed during the dry slide process were analysed using optical and SEM with an EDS. It was discovered that pressure plays a vital effect in the wear mechanism. The hybrid composite (Al-Si/12 Al2O3/2MoS2) material can be utilised in place of conventional materials in tribological demanding automotive applications.