Optimization of preheating temperature for TiB2 reinforcement on the preparation of stir cast LM4 + TiB2 composites and effect of artificial aging on hardness improvement using ANOVA

This work emphasizes the optimization of preheating temperature of TiB2 reinforcement powder with LM4 composites, and statistical analysis for predicting hardness improvement during aging treatment using ANOVA, are illustrated in this article. A two-stage stir casting procedure was used to fabricate LM4 + TiB2 (1, 2 and 3 wt.%) composites. The impact of preheating TiB2 reinforcement powder at various temperatures such as 600, 500, 450, 350 and 250 °C, to attain uniform distribution of reinforcements in the matrix was studied. Optical microstructure analysis clearly shows that the optimum preheating temperature of TiB2 powder for effective preparation of composites is 350 °C for 30 min without agglomeration of reinforcement particles. After successful preparation of composites, the as-cast samples were subjected to single-stage and multistage solutionizing treatments and then artificially aged at 100 and 200 °C to obtain peak hardness. Micro Vickers Hardness test was done to calculate the hardness of both age hardened LM4 alloy and its composites and results were analyzed. An increase in wt.% of TiB2 (1–3%), the hardness of composites increased, and multistage solutionizing treatment followed by artificial aging at 100 °C was proven to achieve the highest peak hardness value for LM4 + 3 wt.% TiB2 composites. Compared to as-cast LM4 alloy, 80–150% increase in hardness was observed when aged at 100 °C and 65–120% increase in hardness was observed at 200 °C during SSHT and MSHT, respectively. ANOVA was performed with wt.%, solutionizing type, aging temperatures as factors, and peak hardness as the outcome. From the results, it can confirm that all three factors contributed effectively for achieving the peak hardness. R2 value validates that the factors account for 100% of the variance in the hardness results.