Characterizing the Influence of MoS2 Hybridization on the Tribological Behaviors of AZ91D-SiC Composites

Abstract The aerospace and automotive industries are struggling to find corrosion and wear resistant lightweight materials. The AZ91D alloys’ highest strength-to-weight ratio makes them preferable than their monolithic counterparts. Hybrid composites based on AZ91D offer a viable solution to these problems. Therefore, this study set out to investigate how reinforcing AZ91D-SiC hybrid composites with molybdenum di-sulphide (MoS2) affected their tribological performance. wear resistance (WR) of synthetic composite specimen with varying percentages (wt. %) employing a pin-on-disc (POD) device was measured. Five parameters at three levels of tribological performance were evaluated using an L27 orthogonal array. The hybrid AZ91D-SiC-MoS2 composites exhibited significantly improved wear resistance in comparison to the AZ91D-SiC and AZ91D-MoS2 composites. Tribological performance of the hybrid composites was shown to be significantly affected by increases in MoS2, sliding distance (C), and load (A), as determined by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and grey-relational analysis (GRA). AZ91D 12 %, 6 % SiC MoS2 demonstrated the best multi-response tribological performance increase. Approximately 6 wt % of MoS2 reinforcement was found to be optimal. When the percentage of MoS2 particles exceeded this value, wear rise dramatically due to particle aggregation. Hybridized reinforcements boosted the composites’ hardness.