LAUSR

An experimental study has been carried out to investigate the Mechanical properties and tribological performance behaviour of self-healing Al6061 alloy. The self-healing characteristics have been incorporated by reinforcing the low melting point solder alloy 60Pb40Sn into Al6061. The mechanical testing for tensile, torsion and impact strength properties have been performed on developed self-healing samples as per ASTM standard test procedures. The tribological experiments of the material were performed under simulated test conditions following Taguchi Design of experiments concept. The experimental design has been prepared using Taguchi L9 array and the effect of operating parameters such as load, speed and sliding distance on the friction and wear behaviour under dry conditions has been assessed. For improved tribological performance 3% MoS2 powder (by weight) was added to the self-healing Al6061 alloy. The results show that the mechanical properties of self-healing Al6061 deteriorate due to the reinforcement of 60Pb40Sn. However, self-healing Al6061 alloy does not break into two pieces in Charpy impact test. The tribological studies reveal that the self-healing Al alloy has pro-friction and pro-wear performance characteristics as compared to pure Al6061 alloy. The contact friction increases with an increase in load while it decreases with an increase in speed. However, the wear increases with an increase in load and speed in case of self-healing Al6061 alloy.