Solid particle erosion studies on SiC reinforced functionally graded aluminium matrix composites

The main objective of this present study is to fabricate functionally graded Aluminium alloy reinforced with silicon carbide composite by horizontal centrifugal casting process and investigate its erosion wear behaviour using Taguchi technique. Microstructural examination confirmed that the gradient structure across the radial direction and maximum particle reinforcement was found at the outer zone of the fabricated functionally graded metal matrix composite. Solid particle erosion wear experiments were carried out on the fabricated functionally graded metal matrix composite using abrasive air jet erosion test rig. Erosion process parameters such as zone distance from outer surface, Erodent velocity and Exposure time were examined using L9 orthogonal array table. The effect of erosion parameters on the erosion rate was investigated by signal-to-noise ratio and Analysis of Variance. Analysis of Variance result concluded that zone distance from the outer surface had 91.46% influence on erosion rate followed by exposure time (2.54%) and erodent Velocity (0.54%). Finally, regression equation was formed to find the optimal erosion rate and that has been validated by confirmatory experiment.