GRA & DFA Approach for Optimum Material Selection of Aluminium Metal Matrix Composites: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Objective: To draw the best combination of material parameters which gives optimized tensile strength, hardness and density properties of the aluminium metal matrix composite. Methods: In this study, three parameters (i.e., base material: Al5083, Al6082 and Al7075, reinforcement material: Fly-ash, SiC, and Al 2 O 3 , and percent of reinforcement material: 2.5%, 5% and 7.5%) were chosen, each with three levels, for the fabrication of AMMC samples in accordance with the Taguchi experimental design L 9 in order to evaluate the tensile strength, hardness and density properties. With the considered set of material combinations, the AMMC samples are fabricated by using stir casting process. Findings: The optimum material combinations are chosen to get optimized properties of AMMC samples using GRA &DFA approach. Since, grey relational analysis is one of the foremost techniques applied when the nature of information is incomplete and uncertain. The experimental results are analyzed using GRA & DFA and drawn the optimum combination of material parameter such as Al6082 (base material), SiC (reinforcement material) and 7.5% (per cent of reinforcement material) with GRA and Al6082 (base material), SiC (reinforcement material) and 5% (per cent of reinforcement material) with DFA to get optimized properties of AMMC sample. It also found that the confirmation experiment results are adequate. Novelty: The use of flyash reinforcement as secondary reinforcement has widely increased due to their low cost and easily available as waste in thermal power plants. From the experimental results, it is observed that the tensile strength, hardness and density properties of aluminium alloy samples are improved due to the addition of reinforcement materials using stir casting process.