Impact of Zircon Reinforcement and Copper Chill on the Wear and Tensile Strength of Aluminum/Graphite Composites with Experimental and Neural Network Approach

This article presents insights into the impact of load and reinforcement (Zircon) on the wear behavior of Aluminum/graphite composites. Zircon is included into LM13 along with 3 wt.% of graphite in the proportions of 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 wt.%. The composite is fabricated using the stir casting process, with copper chilling positioned at one end to facilitate unidirectional solidification of the molten composite. Tensile, hardness, and wear analyses are conducted on the chill end of the specimen. The wear rate is determined for the load parameters of 30N, 40N, 50N, 60N, and 70N while maintaining constant sliding speed and sliding distance using a pin-on-disc experimental setup. At 9 wt.% of Zircon, tensile strength, hardness, and wear resistance improve correspondingly, thereafter declining at 12 wt.% of Zircon. The morphology of several reinforced specimens is examined for microstructure using a field emission scanning electron microscope, revealing that 9 wt.% of zircon exhibits less wear deformation compared to other specimens. The acquired wear data are being evaluated for Artificial Neural Networks utilizing the Levenberg-Marquardt method, and the findings demonstrate a strong correlation with the obtained results.