Abstract
The present study investigates the impact of novel ultrasonic-assisted squeeze casting parameters on the fabrication of AA2014/Al2O3 nanocomposites using the Taguchi Grey response surface methodology. The experiments were carried out using Taguchi’s L16 orthogonal array, with five different controllable parameters of ultrasonic-assisted squeeze casting process such as ultrasonic power (1.5–2.25 kW), ultrasonic time (4–16 min.), pouring temperature (700–850 °C may result in premature solidification), squeeze pressure (50–200 MPa) and wt % of reinforcement (1-4). The process’s performance measures included hardness, ultimate tensile strength, percentage of elongation and grain size. The microstructure of the nanocomposites was investigated using optical microscopy, high-resolution scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction technique. The multiple responses were converted into a single Grey relational grade, which was then used in modelling and optimization using the response surface methodology. Analysis of variance and 3D surface plots were generated to investigate the most important parameters affecting the quality of AA2014/Al2O3 nanocomposites. The results showed that the optimum parameter settings were ultrasonic power of 2.2489 kW, ultrasonic time of 15.91min, pouring temperature of 700.67 °C, squeeze pressure of 41 MPa and wt % of reinforcement of 1.85. The results of TGRSM demonstrated that ultrasonic power had the strongest correlation with responses, with significant improvements in UTS and grain size. The confirmation experiment revealed an improvement of 0.201 in GRG.
