Investigation of wear characteristics of granite dust & coconut shell ash reinforced aluminum metal matrix composite using design of experiment

Abstract Recently, one of the most important issue faced by all nations is a waste management. Therefore, it is essential to search for creative solutions to waste reduction, reuse, and recycling. This can be accomplished by adding waste materials to composite materials as a reinforcements. Reusing waste materials enhances the characteristics of existing materials, while also helping the environment by solving the disposal problem. The main aim of this paper is to study the wear characteristics of hybrid aluminum metal matrix composite reinforced with coconut shell ash (CSA) and granite dust. The hybrid composite samples were manufactured using stir casting by reinforcing CSA (ranging from 0 wt% to 12 wt%) and granite dust (maintained at 2 wt%) in Al6061 alloy. SEM and EDAX analysis were performed to investigate the microstructure and elemental composition. The wear characteristics of the hybrid composites were determined via pin-on-disc tests. Finally, the Taguchi design of experiment was performed on the specimen having the best wear characteristics by selecting the L27 orthogonal array and identified the influence of process variables on the wear rate. The results of the pin-on-disc experiment showed that the wear rate decreased with increasing CSA%. The hybrid composite composed of 02 wt% granite dust, & 12 wt% CSA indicates a lower wear rate (56.25%) as compared to the matrix alloy. The Taguchi analysis prooved that the sliding distance has a greater impact on the wear rate than the other parameters. This material can be a superior substitute where high wear resistance is required.