Applying Taguchi method to study the wear behaviour of ZA-27 alloy-based composites reinforced with SiC nanoparticles

The tribological behaviour of ZA-27 alloy reinforced with nanosized SiC has not been studied. Thus, this work attempts to investigate this effect by utilising Taguchi's factorial experiment approach. Accordingly, ZA-27 alloys reinforced with different weight fractions of SiC nanoparticles were produced using double stir casting technique. In wear test, the effect of normal load, sliding speed and reinforcement content were studied. The results revealed that reinforcing ZA-27 alloy with SiC nanoparticles improved its wear behaviour, while adding a large amount of reinforcements have a negative effect. The ANOVA test indicates that both reinforcement contents and normal load have statistically significant effects on wear rate while the effect of sliding speed is less significant. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to examine worn surfaces, where features observed on monolithic alloy worn surface are typical signs for adhesive wear. The worn surfaces of metal matrix nanocomposites (MMNCs) have typical features for abrasive wear.