evaluation of dry sliding wear characteristics of lm 13 al/b4c composites

The present paper labels the wear behaviour of the manufactured LM 13 aluminium/B4C metal matrix composites synthesized by means of liquid metallurgy technique. The B4C particles with size 33 µm diversified for the range of 0, 4, 8 and 12 wt-% were incorporated in the composite. The wear behaviour of the composites was studied as per L16 orthogonal array using pin-on-disc tribometer for various sliding conditions by varying the parameters such as load, velocity, sliding distance and wt-% of the reinforcement. Smaller-the-better characteristic was selected as the objective of the developed model and the optimum level of each parameter was detected. The influence of the parameters on the wear rate was known through analysis of variance. Regression model was developed and checked for adequacy using confirmation experiments. Scanning electron microscope analysis was done to study the worn morphologies of composite surface. The experimental results disclose that load was the major influencing parameter on the wear behaviour followed by wt-% of reinforcement, velocity and sliding distance. The worn-out surface interprets that rise in load yields a transition in the wear mechanism. The confirmatory results evident that Taguchi’s design as efficient statistical model by supporting the regression results with less error.