Tribological Behavior of Aluminium Metal Matrix Composite with Addition of Bamboo Leaf Ash by GRA-Taguchi Method

The bamboo leaf ash (BLA) which was extruded from agro waste was used as a particulate reinforcement to produce economical AMMCs. The dry sliding wear behavior of Al-4.5 wt.% Cu alloy with the addition of 2, 4 and 6 wt.% of BLA by stir casting method was analyzed using pin-on-disc wear test apparatus. The typical L27 orthogonal array was selected to perform the experimental work. The effect of the testing parameters on wear rate, SWR and COF of the fabricated aluminium composites were studied using Grey relational analysis with Taguchi method. The ANOVA analysis was employed to identify the significance of testing parameters and statistical analysis was performed. The testing parameters play a crucial role to control the dry sliding wear behavior of the fabricated aluminium composites. The confirmation test has been performed to validate the predictive statistical value with the experimental value. The wear mechanism was analyzed using scanning electron microscope with Energy Dispersive Analysis of X-ray, it was observed that the grooves size decreased with the addition of BLA particles in the composite in comparison with matrix alloy resulting in decreased wear rate with increase in BLA content. The significant amount of mechanical mixed layer formation was observed to increase in wear resistance of the composites.