Erosion Response of Thixoformed A356-5TiB₂ in situ Composite Using Taguchi's Experimental Design

ABSTRACT

The present article describes the application of Taguchi's experimental design methodology to investigate the erosion wear behavior of in situ-formed A356-5TiB₂ composite subjected to thixoforming. The effects of process parameters—such as impact velocity, erodent temperature, erodent size, standoff distance, and impingement angle—on the erosion rate have been analyzed. The results indicated that impact velocity is the most significant factor and accounts for 42.31% of the total effect on the erosion rate of the thixoformed A356-5TiB₂ composite. It is found that material loss during erosive wear is primarily due to microploughing (i.e., abrasive type) and microfracture (i.e., impact type). The erosion rate of thixoformed A356-5TiB₂ in situ composite was found to be 48.82 mg/kg, which is nearly 44% lower than that of as-cast alloy.

KEYWORDS:

• Erosion
• thixoforming
• A356-TiB₂ in situ composites
• Taguchi method

Acknowledgement

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support received from the Melting and Casting Laboratory at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur for performing the thixoforming experiments and the support extended by the Central Research Facility (CRF) at IIT Kharagpur for FESEM charac-terization.