Abstract
This paper presents an experimental investigation on the surface roughness of pure commercial Al, Al-15 wt% fly ash, and Al-15 wt% fly ash/1.5 wt% graphite (Gr) composites produced by modified two-step stir casting. The effect of reinforcements and machining parameters such as cutting speed, feed rate, and depth of cut on surface roughness, which greatly influence the performance of the machined product, were analyzed during turning operation. The optimum machining parameters were found in minimizing the surface roughness of the materials by using the Taguchi and ANOVA approach. Results show that the presence of the fly ash particles reduces the surface roughness of composites compared with pure Al. The inclusion of 1.5 wt% Gr in the Al-fly ash composite reduces the surface roughness considerably. A scanning electron microscopy investigation was carried out on the machined surfaces of the tested materials. Confirmation tests were performed to validate the regression models.
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P. Shanmughasundaram received an AMIE (India) degree in mechanical engineering and an AMIE (India) degree in production engineering from the Institution of Engineers in India, Calcutta. He obtained a Post-Diploma in production engineering from PSG Polytechnic College, Coimbatore. He received a Post Graduate degree in 2004 from Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at Anna University, Chennai. He has published more than 10 articles in international journals. He is a member of ISTE, IE, and SAE. His areas of interest include MMCs, tribology, and optimization techniques.
R. Subramanaian received an M.Tech. in Metallurgical Engineering in 1987 from IIT Kanpur India and a doctoral degree in metallurgical engineering from Bharathiar University in 2001. He is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Metallurgical Engineering, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore. His areas of specialization are physical metallurgy, powder metallurgy, ODS alloys, MMCs, and material modeling. He has published more than 30 articles in international journals. He is a member of ISTE and IE.
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Shanmughasundaram, P., Subramanian, R. Influence of graphite and machining parameters on the surface roughness of Al-fly ash/graphite hybrid composite: a Taguchi approach. J Mech Sci Technol 27, 2445–2455 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-013-0630-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-013-0630-9