Characterization and optimization of influence of MoS2 hybridization on tribological behaviours of Mg–B4C composites

• Published in: Bulletin of materials science 2021-09, Vol.44 (3), p.192, Article 192
• Main Authors: Kailasanathan, C, Rajkumar, P R, Rajini, N, Sivakumar, G D, Ramesh, T, Ismail, Sikiru Oluwarotimi, Mohammad, Faruq, Al-Lohedan, Hamad A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerospace industry; Alloys; Boron; Boron carbide; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composite materials; Corrosion resistance; Corrosive wear; Engineering; Friction; Graphite; High temperature; Hybrid composites; Load; Lubricants & lubrication; Magnesium base alloys; Materials Science; Mechanical properties; Molybdenum disulfide; Orthogonal arrays; Particle size; Particulate composites; Photomicrographs; Powder metallurgy; Scanning electron microscopy; Sliding; Solid lubricants; Strength to weight ratio; Taguchi methods; Thermogravimetric analysis; Tribology; Variance analysis; Wear mechanisms; Wear resistance; Wear tests
• ISSN: 0250-4707; 0973-7669
• DOI: 10.1007/s12034-021-02423-4

Aerospace and automobile industries are facing challenges in developing lightweight materials with high corrosion and wear resistance. The magnesium (Mg) alloys are superior to their monolithics, as they have maximum strength-to-weight ratio. These challenges can be solved with application of Mg-based hybrid composites. Therefore, this study investigated the hybridizing effect of molybdenum disulphide (MoS 2 ) reinforcement on tribological performance of magnesium–boron carbide (Mg–B 4 C) hybrid composites, fabricated by powder metallurgy technique. Wear tests under dry sliding condition were carried out on the prepared composite samples with different proportions/weight percentage (wt%), using a pin-on-disc apparatus. Mg, MoS 2 , B 4 C and their various composites were characterized, using X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis. The experiments were conducted using L 27 orthogonal array with five factors at three levels that affected the tribological performance. The wear resistance of the hybrid Mg–B 4 C–MoS 2 composites significantly increased when compared with Mg–B 4 C and Mg–MoS 2 composites, due to the refined effect of both reinforcements. Analysis of variance and grey-relational analysis result showed that increase in MoS 2 , sliding distance ( D Sl ) and load ( L Sl ) significantly influenced the tribological performance of the hybrid composites. Mg–10wt%B 4 C–5wt%MoS 2 exhibited significant best improvement on the multi-response tribological performance. The optimum quantity of MoS 2 reinforcement was around 7 wt%. Beyond this threshold proportion, wear was significantly increased, due to the agglomeration of MoS 2 particles. Hardness of the composites increased with hybridized reinforcements. SEM micrographs depicted the homogeneous dispersion of reinforcements in the Mg matrix. Also, SEM micrographs of the worn surfaces confirmed that delamination wear mechanism was dominant on the Mg hybrid composites.