Enhancing hardness and wear behaviour of AA6061 reinforced with zirconium nitride through TOPSIS approach

ABSTRACT

Aluminum matrix composites (AMCs) materials are highly valued in the aerospace and automotive industries for their exceptional characteristics. Zirconium nitride (ZrN) particles were used to reinforce aluminium alloy 6061(AA6061) to enhance the hardness and wear performance. Here the stir casting method is used to create four different composites with different amounts of ZrN particles (6, 12, and 18 wt.%). Using a Brinell hardness tester, the composites bearing the AA6061/12 wt.% ZrN formula achieved the highest recorded hardness value. Accordingly, these AA6061/12 wt.% ZrN composites were subjected to a tribological analysis. We conducted the trials with load (A), sliding speed (B), sliding distance (C) as the wear parameters. In order to determine the best parameter settings for attaining the minimum wear rate (Wr) and friction coefficient (COF), the TOPSIS method was used. Findings indicated that for ‘A’ = 18 N, ‘B’ = 2 m/s, ‘C’ = 1200 m, the COF and minimum Wr were achieved. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) data showed that factor ‘A’ contributed 45.43% of the total, with factor ‘B’ coming in second at 18.02%.

Keywords:
AA6061; Composites; Hardness; Stir Casting; TOPSIS; Wear; Zirconium Nitride