ENHANCING WEAR RESISTANCE OF SQUEEZE CAST AC2A ALUMINUM ALLOY

The effect of squeeze casting process parameters on wear behavior of AC2A aluminium alloy was primarily investigated in this experimental study. Five process parameters, namely squeeze pressure, pouring temperature, die temperature, die material and compression time, each at four levels were chosen and sixteen experimental runs based on L16 orthogonal array were performed. From analysis of variance (ANOVA) and F-test, it was observed that squeeze pressure, die temperature and compression time were the parameters making significant improvement in wear resistance. A mathematical model relating the effect of significant parameters with wear behavior was developed for the process using nonlinear regression analysis with the help of MINITAB software. Taguchi method, Microsoft XL Solver and MATLAB genetic algorithm were employed to optimize the process. The result show that parametric conditions obtained through the optimization tools exhibit about 20% enhancement in wear resistance compared to gravity casting condition.