Influence of Process Parameters and its Optimization on Wear Behavior of an Exceptional Aegle Marmelos Polymer/Aluminum Composite

Abstract

The present paper is focused on the indigenous production of a unique and low-cost Aegle Marmelos natural polymer (AMNP) powder via chemical synthesis and its reinforcement in the aluminum matrix via powder metallurgy. The wear behavior of Aegle Marmelos natural polymer-reinforced (AMNPR) aluminum composites is studied. The effect of control parameters like reinforcement (wt.%) and different sliding parameters on the wear characteristics is discussed. The SEM studies revealed that severe damage due to adhesive wear, delamination, and formation of oxide zones is observed at reinforcement concentrations of 10 wt.% and 15 wt.%. The optical profilometry study also revealed that the roughness of the worn-out samples was maximum at 10 wt.% reinforcement. Further, the process parameters with each characteristic are optimized individually and the optimal parameters are different. To avoid this confounding effect, TOPSIS coupled with CRITIC method is adopted to convert all characteristics into a closeness coefficient (C<inf>i</inf>) and optimize at a common parameter level setting. The optimal combination of process parameters for minimum wear characteristics is as follows: reinforcement concentration: 20 wt.%, sliding load: 25 N, sliding speed: 200 rpm, and sliding duration: 4 min. The confirmation test results were validated and showed an improvement of the closeness coefficient by 0.0116. In this study, a statistical multi-regression model is also developed for predicting the closeness coefficient of the developed composites under different parametric conditions. The predicted values obtained from the regression model agreed well with the experimental values, with a mean absolute error of 5.478%. © ASM International 2024.