Reconnoitring Wear Resistance and Mechanical Strengths of AA8111/B4C/ZrO2 Nanocomposite through Taguchi Route

Abstract

Nowadays, the use of aluminium alloys is increasing in all domains of application, including industry, medical, electrical, and household appliances. In general, aluminium alloy is a lightweight material with great strength when compared to other alloys. According to the uses, the aluminium alloy must be strengthened by the inclusion of reinforced particles via the stir casting process. The purpose of this study was to create nanocomposite samples of AA8111/B4C/ZrO2 using a stir casting procedure. To prepare nanocomposite samples, the matrix of aluminium alloy AA8111 is supplemented with nanoparticles of boron carbide (B4C) and zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) in varied proportions. Optimize the stir casting parameters using a statistical approach such as the Taguchi technique to improve mechanical and wear attributes. The following process parameters were chosen: nanoparticle reinforcement quantity (4% to 10% with the step of 2%), melting temperature (800°C to 950°C with the step of 50°C), stir time (20 min to 35 min with the step of 5 minutes), and stir speed (400 rpm to 550 rpm with the step of 50 rpm). Wear and tensile strength tests are performed; the melting temperature is heavily impacted in the wear test, and the stir speed is heavily influenced in the tensile strength analysis. This experimental effort yielded a minimum wear of 0.085 mm3/m and a maximum ultimate strength of 167.6 N/mm2.