Parametric Optimization of Dry Sliding Wear Behavior of A356 Alloy-Zircon Composites

A356 Aluminium Alloy-Zircon composites were synthesized through the stir casting technique by introducing different volume fractions of zircon particles (3, 6, and 9 %). Stir casting process was carried out at the stirring speed of 600 rpm and stirring time of 10 minutes. The microstructure of the composites showed an even distribution of zircon particles. The composites' hardness improved with an increase in vol.% of zircon constituent part. Wear loss against different sliding distances and load was investigated through a Pin-on-Disc wear testing apparatus with an L16 orthogonal array. Taguchi's parameter optimization demonstrated that material loss was influenced to a significant extent by adding Zircon. Wear resistance of the synthesized composite was investigated and verified using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Zircon content (39.33%) was found to be the most influencing factor on wear loss, followed by the applied load (36.80%) and sliding distance (21.54%). Zircon improves the properties of the composite through restricting the growth of dendritic arms in A356 alloy. In addition, reinforcement particles enhanced the strengthening of the composites through Orowan mechanism by inhibiting the movement of dislocations. ANOVA technique was successfully used to examine the effect of individual parameters on wear loss of A356 alloy-Zircon composites MMCs.