Two body abrasive wear characteristics of Al7068/Si₃N₄/BN hybrid composite

The present study emphasises the mechanical and tribological characteristics of stir cast Al7068/Si 3 N 4 /BN hybrid metal matrix composite. The composites were prepared at various weight percentages of Si 3 N 4 and BN and their mechanical properties were evaluated. The composite with maximum tensile strength of 238.7 MPa was obtained for 10% Si 3 N 4 and 5%BN. The abrasive wear test was conducted to evaluate wear rate of composites using pin-on-disc apparatus by varying abrasive grit size, load, sliding velocity and sliding distance. The Taguchi L27 orthogonal array was used to design the experiments and analyse the effect of process parameters. The ANOVA test revealed that the wear rate is highly influenced by mass fraction of Si 3 N 4 and grit size of abrasives. The worn out surface of wear test specimen was analysed using SEM to understand the mechanism of wear.