Microstructural, mechanical and tribological study of hybrid composite developed by ball milling and stir casting processes

Purpose This study aims to fabricate a hybrid aluminium composite by combining ball milling and stir casting processes for uniform distribution of particles. Aluminium metal matrix composites find their applications in aerospace, automobile, defense and marine sectors, etc. Design/methodology/approach Design of experiments using Taguchi methodology was used to get the optimal factor level settings for wear and coefficient of friction (COF). Multi-response optimization of COF and wear using grey relational analysis was used to get optimal factor level setting. ANOVA was done to identify the significant factors for single response optimization as well as multi-response optimization. The predicted values of confidence intervals at 90% confidence level were found out corresponding to single and multi-response optimization. Findings The uniform distribution of particles was verified by mapping of elements and grain structure through optical microscopy. X-ray differaction analysis was used to identify elements and phases. Mechanical properties like tensile strength and hardness of the fabricated composite were also ascertained. The tensile strength and hardness of the fabricated composite were 165.08 MPa and 120.36HV, respectively. The predicted mean values for the wear and COF were 0.0014 gm and 0.38, respectively. Originality/value In this manuscript, a novel attempt has been made to develop and optimize a novel hybrid aluminium composite reinforced with silicon nitride and hexagonal boron nitride using ball milling and stir casting techniques. Experimental fraction of observations, a new term coined by the authors for uniform of distribution of particles.