Characterization and tribological analysis on AA 6061 reinforced with AlN and ZrB2 in situ composites

This research paper deals with AA 6061 composite material with various amounts of weight percentage (wt%) of reinforcements of aluminium nitride (AlN) and zirconium boride (ZrB2). The various amounts of reinforcements like 0 wt%, 3 wt%, 6 wt%, 9 wt% and 12 wt% were mixed with matrix by in situ method of stir casting. Then, the mechanical properties like hardness, tensile and compressive strengths were analyzed as per ASTM standards. The microstructure shows the particle distribution and dispersion within the composites and X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectrograph (EDS) analyzed the constituents of AA 6061 composites. The wear resistance is examined by pin on disc method with various input parameters like composites (wt%), Load (N) and Velocity (m/s). The wear rate (mm(3)/m) was calculated for each wt% of reinforcements by mass loss (g). The SEM examination was conducted before and after the wearing of AA composites to study the consequent worn surfaces and defects. The optimization techniques like Taguchi and ANOVA were then applied to obtain the best processing parameter and most significant parameter of the AA 6061 composites. The theoretical and optimization results were compared for identifying the best results with GA. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. on behalf of Brazilian Metallurgical, Materials and Mining Association.