Integrated Taguchi-simulated annealing (SA) approach for analyzing wear behaviour of silicon nitride

In this study, the integrated Taguchi-simulated annealing (SA) approach is applied to examine the wear behaviour of silicon nitride (Si3N4)hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Wear tests for Si3N4-hBN composite versus steel (ASTM 316L) disc were carried out for a dry sliding conditions in a so-called pin-on-disc arrangement. The tests were realized at % volume of hBN 0, 4, 8, 12, 16 in Si3N4 under the loads of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 N. The wear rate (WR) was analyzed using Taguchi –signal to noise ratio approach with the aim of finding optimal combination of load and % volume of hBN in Si3N4. By applying the analysis of variance, it was also found that the greatest impact on wear rate has interaction of load and % volume of hBN with percentage effect of 51.89%, then % volume of hBN with 35.04% and load with 13.06%. The experimental results are further utelized to develop the second-order, linear mathematical model. Further, this model is processed with simulated annealing (SA) to find the optimal combination of load and % volume of hBN to minimize wear rate. Combined Taguchi-SA approach was successfully used to predict the optimal combination of load and % volume of hBN in Si3N4 to minimize wear rate of Si3N4. The dominant wear mechanism is adhesive wear as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). © 2017 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Centro de Ciencias Aplicadas y Desarrollo Tecnológico. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).