This paper investigates the effect of mechanical, microstructural and dry sliding wear behaviour of Al-Si/2wt%MoS2, Al-Si/12wt%Al2O3, and Al-Si/12wt% Al2O3/2wt%MoS2 composites that prepared using the stir-casting route. To avoid friction and wear at the interfaces of materials, an attempt has been made by adding solid lubricant MoS2 to build such a self-lubricating composite with Al-matrix. The tribological analysis has been described based on the Taguchi orthogonal array (L27). Three variables combination such as sliding velocity, sliding distance and contact pressure are used for this study to determine the tribological responses, i.e. wear rate and coefficient of friction. The properties of composites were improved by increasing the weight % of MoS2 and Al2O3. The tensile strength of Al-Si/2MoS2, Al-Si/12Al2O3, and Al-Si/12 Al2O3/2MoS2 composites is 6.02%, 12.46%, and 2.44% compared to the base matrix. The addition of MoS2 helps the hybrid composite to attain better tribological properties with a slightly lower specific strength. Analysis of variance showed that the composites such as Al-Si/2 MoS2 and Al-Si/12Al2O3/2MoS2 were strongly influenced by the pressure in wear rate. Similarly, sliding velocity affects the coefficient of friction for Al-Si/2MoS2. Wear tracks formed during the dry slide process were analysed using optical and SEM with an EDS. It was discovered that pressure plays a vital effect in the wear mechanism. The hybrid composite (Al-Si/12 Al2O3/2MoS2) material can be utilised in place of conventional materials in tribological demanding automotive applications

This work emphasizes the mechanical and tribological performance of Al-Si/Al2O3/MoS2 hybrid matrix composites. The composites are reinforced by varying weight percentages of Al2O3 (8%, 12%, and 16%) and MoS2 (0%, 2%, and 4%), and were prepared by stir casting. As the weight percentage of Al2O3 in a composite grows, so does its hardness and tensile strength. The addition of 2% wt. MoS2 enhances the specific strength and tribological properties, according to the research. However, when compared to other composites studied, the Al/16% Al2O3 composite had improved mechanical properties. MoS2 also aids the hybrid composite in achieving higher tribological characteristics while marginally lowering the specific strength. Taguchi orthogonal array (L27) is used to design tribological performances with process parameters viz. applied load, sliding speed and weight % of Al2O3 as well the percentage of MoS2 whereas wear rate (mm3/m), wear (µm) and coefficient of friction were considered as the responses. A hybrid Grey–Fuzzy Reasoning Approach (GFRA) is used to optimize a multi-response for avoiding vagueness in decision making. The statistical analysis revealed that Al/2%MoS2/16%Al2O3 composite has exhibited better wear resistance than other composites. The confirmation test is also conducted to validate the optimal condition obtained by ANOVA.

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