Estimation of Wear Behavioural Response of Al-Limestone Slurry Composite Using Taguchi Orthogonal Array

Limestone slurry powder (LSP) is one of the solid wastes generated from stone processing industry, used as reinforcing agent replaced conventional ceramic compounds in Aluminum Metal Matrix composites (AMCs) to increase mechanical and tribological properties. In this work aluminum (Al)-magnesium ( Mg)-silicon (Si) alloy is strengthened with addition of LSP to determining the tribological performance of Al-LSP composites are composed with 4, 8, 12 and 16 % weight ratio, and prepared via double stir casting. The tribological tests were conducted on Pin-on-disc Tester, and used to evaluate sliding wear rate (WR) and coefficient of friction (CF). The results indicate that, the wear rate increased with increase of applied load and sliding velocity, but decreased with increasing LSP. Wear mechanism is observed with increase of applied load and changing from abrasion wear to delamination wear. The dispersoids phase in sub-surfaces, worn-out surface and distribution of LSP in base material are examined by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and optical microscope. Taguchi Orthogonal Array (L25) is considered to estimate an optimal response. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the most influencing parameters are sliding distance and working load on WR and CF respectively.