ISSN 0031-918X, Physics of Metals and Metallography, 2019, Vol. 120, No. 10, pp. 981–988.

© Pleiades Publishing, Ltd., 2019.

Published in Russian in Fizika Metallov i Metallovedenie, 2019, Vol. 120, No. 10, pp. 1072–1082.

STRENGTH
AND PLASTICITY

Modeling of Wear Behavior

of Al–Si/Al2O3 Metal Matrix Composites
M. Megaheda, D. Saberb,*, and M. A. Agwaa
aDepartment of Mechanical Design and Production Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University,
Zagazig, 44519 Egypt
b
Materials Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, Zagazig, 44519 Egypt
*e-mail: daliasaber13@yahoo.com
Received February 28, 2018; revised May 29, 2018; accepted March 25, 2019

Abstract—Artificial neural network (ANN) approach, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multiple regres-
sion model were developed to predict the wear rate for the aluminum (Al)-silicon (Si) alloy. These methods
were based on weight fractions of alumina (Al2O3), load, and sliding distance as inputs. Metal matrix com-
posites (MMCs) were prepared using stir casting method. The Al–Si alloy was reinforced with the addition
of 0, 10, 15, 20, and 25 wt % of Al2O3 particles. The ANN model was utilized to predict the wear rates of the
composites. Experimental results indicated that the increase of both load and sliding distance increases the
wear rate. However, the increase of weight fractions of alumina (Al2O3) decreases the wear rate. Both ANN
and ANOVA revealed that the sliding distance has the major influence on the wear rate in comparison with
the factor of alumina weight fraction. However, the applied load has a relatively low influence on the wear
rate of Al–Si/Al2O3 composite. A multiple regression approach suggested in this study reveals the correlation
between the weight fractions of Al2O3, load, and sliding distance and the wear rate.

Keywords: sliding wear, metal matrix composites, particulate filler, wear modeling
DOI: 10.1134/S0031918X19100089

1. INTRODUCTION reinforced with ceramic particles gives better mechan-

Aluminum matrix composites are becoming
potential engineering materials offering excellent
properties such as high specific strength, high stiff-
ness, electrical and thermal conductivity, better wear
and seizure resistance, and low coefficient of thermal
expansion. Out of different automobile components,
an aluminum matrix composite is considered a more
preferred material, especially in the brake drums, cyl-
inder blocks, cylinder liners, drive shafts etc. [1–6]. In
aerospace industries, Al composites are used in struc-
tural applications such as rotor vanes, helicopter parts,
in compressors, and in aero-engines. The perfor-
mance of these components essentially is determined
by their wear and friction characteristics [7]. Alumi-
num composites can exhibit a considerable enhance-
ment in tribological properties such as sliding and
abrasive wear resistance [8]. The most widely used
reinforcement for MMCs composites are Al2O3, SiC,
and graphite as particles or whiskers. Aluminum metal
matrix composites are usually fabricated by liquid
casting or powder metallurgy methods [9]. Stir casting
is a liquid state method of fabrication of composite
materials, in which a ceramic particle is mixed with
molten matrix metal homogeneously by mechanical
stirring and solidification of the melt containing rein-
forced particles in order to obtain the desired product
[10, 11]. Metal matrix composites based on aluminum
ical properties than aluminum alloys without rein-
forcement [9]. However, the increase of the volume
fractions can also provoke agglomeration of the parti-
cles during fabrication of the composite. Strength of
particles and matrix interface is very important param-
eter, as the interfaces may be weak due to interfacial
reaction and poor wettability. When the reinforcement
is well bonded to the matrix, wear resistance of the
composite increases with further increasing of the vol-
ume fraction of reinforcement. However, if the rein-
forcement is not well bonded to the matrix, the wear
resistance of the metal matrix composites increases up
to a certain amount of the reinforcement and thereaf-
ter starts to decrease [12].
Suresh et al. [13] used response surface methodol-
ogy and developed mathematical models between the
parameters of weight percentage of TiB2 added to
Al6061, load, and sliding distance. Analysis of vari-
ance method was applied to check the validity of the
developed model. This mathematical model was
developed for specific wear rate, which was predicted
at 99.5% confidence level. A wear rate prediction
model for aluminum matrix reinforced with 10 wt %
as well as 30 wt % in situ aluminum diboride flakes
was developed using Taguchi’s method by taking slid-
ing velocity, sliding distance, normal load, and rein-
forcement ratio as parameters [14]. The orthogonal

981
982 MEGAHED et al.
Table 1. The chemical compositions of the matrix
Element Si Mg Mn Cu Ni
Amount, wt % 7.1 0.3 0.01 0.02 0.01
Table 2. The wear test conditions
Sliding speed,
Load, N Sliding distance, m
m/s
1 20, 30, and 40 310, 620, 930, and 1240
array, signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and analysis of vari-
ance (ANOVA) were developed to study the optimum
testing parameters of composites. The experimental
results showed that normal load and reinforcement
weight fractions were the foremost parameters that
affected the specific wear rate, then sliding velocity.
However, the sliding distance has no effect on specific
wear rate. The predicted specific wear rates were close
to the experimental values.
Fathy and Megahed [15] used artificial neural net-
works (ANNs) technique to predict abrasive wear rate
of Cu–Al2O3 nanocomposite materials. Rashed and
Mahmoud [8] predicted the wear behavior of
A356/SiC metal matrix composites prepared using
rheocasting route using artificial neural network
(ANN) approach. The effect of silicon carbide (SiC)
reinforcement particle size, SiC weight percent,
applied pressure, and temperature during the test on
wear resistance was developed using ANN model.
Recent progress in modeling methods offers the
possibility that the costly and time-consuming exper-
iments can be reduced. In the present study, artificial
neural network, analysis of variance and multiple
regression models were used to predict the wear
behavior of the Al–Si/Al2O3 composites with different
weight fractions of Al2O3 particles. Alumina reinforced
particles were added to Al–Si alloy with high weight
fractions up to 25 wt %.
2. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Al–7% Si alloy was used as a base material and the
details of the composition are given in Table 1. MMCs
containing Al2O3 reinforcement with an average parti-
cle size of about 75 μm were prepared by a stir casting
method. The metal matrix composites with weight
fractions of 0, 10, 15, 20, and 25 wt % of Al2O3 particles
were manufactured. Stirring was performed in a
graphite crucible with continuous stirring of molten
metal-matrix. Al–Si alloy was melted in a crucible by
heating furnace at 750°C. The Al2O3 particles were
preheated at 900°C to improve wettability with addi-
tion of 1 wt % Mg. Al2O3 particles were added to the
molten metal with a rate of 5 g/min. The stirring was
carried out at a stirring speed of 700 rpm for 5 min after
PHYSICS OF METALS AND METALLOGRAPHY
the completion of particulate feeding. This process
gave homogeneous mixture of the composites.
A dry sliding wear test was carried out on a pin-on-
disk wear testing. Wear tests were carried out under
conditions described in Table 2. The wear tests were
performed under dry sliding conditions. The compos-
ite specimens have a cylindrical shape with a diameter
of 9 mm and a length of 15 mm. The pin was initially
cleaned with acetone and then weighed accurately
using a digital electronic balance. Each specimen was
ground up with abrasive paper of grade 800, since the
wear surface must be in complete contact with the sur-
face of the disk. The wear specimen was held in a steel
holder in the wear machine. At the end of each test,
the pin was weighed again after cleaning with acetone
on the same balance. The difference between the ini-
tial and final weights was taken as a measure of the
mass loss. Wear rate was calculated by converting
mass loss measurements to volume loss by using the
relevant weight densities [16].
3. MATHEMATICAL MODELING
3.1. Artificial Neural Networks Technique
Neural network is a program that imitates the func-
tion of the brain. It is made of units (interconnected
processing elements) which are equivalent to the brain
neuron. This neuron consists of multiple inputs and a
single output. Inputs are modified by weight multiplies
with input value. Neural networks are trained until
minimization of the error of the output of the network
achieved [15]. Minimizing the mean square error
between the actual and the desired outputs is the
main objective of back-propagation training algo-
rithm to form multi-layer perceptron (MLP) by using
a series of training inputs–outputs pairs. MLP is a
case of the feed-forward networks that contains sev-
eral layers [17].
The error, E (cost function) is calculated as fol-
lowing:
E = 0.5  (ζ
ni
n
i
n 2
− Oi ), (1)
where ξ is the desired output of the node, n is the pat-
tern number, i is the node order in the layer, and O is
the actual output. The following equation is used for
updating the connection weights [15]:
Wijm(t + 1) = Wijm(t ) + ηδmj Oim −1 + αΔWijm(t ), (2)
where ΔWij(t) is the last change in the weight. More-
over, for both η and α, the best values at the beginning
of training perhaps not be desired subsequently.
Wij(t + 1) is the new connection weight between the
node “i” and node “j” of the above layer, η is the
learning rate, its value lies in the range from “0” to
“1”, δ is the error term of the node, m indicates layers
except for the input layer.
Vol. 120 No. 10 2019
 MODELING OF WEAR BEHAVIOR 983

(а) (b)
0.045
0.020 0.040
Wear rate, mm3/m
0.100 0.100
0.035
0.075 0.015 0.075 0.030
0.050 0.050 0.025
0.025 0.010 0.025 0.020
0.015
0 0
5 40 45 5 40 45
Al 10 15 30 35 Al 10
15 30 35
2O 25 2O 25
3, w 20 ,N 3, w 20 ,N
t % 25 15 20 Load t % 25 15 20 Load

(c) (d)
0.07 0.09
0.06 0.08
Wear rate, mm3/m

0.100 0.100 0.07

0.05
0.075 0.075 0.06
0.04 0.05
0.050 0.050
0.03 0.04
0.025 0.025
0.03
0.02
0 0
5 45 5 45
Al 10 15
O 30 35 40 Al
O
10
15 30 35 40
2 25 2 25
3, w 20 ,N 3, w 20 ,N
t % 25 15 20 Load t % 25 15 20 Load

Fig. 1. Wear rate as a function of load and weight fraction of Al2O3 (%) for sliding distance (a) 310, (b) 620, (c) 930, (d) 1240 m.

3.2. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is employed to
study the influence of weight fraction of Al2O3, load,
and sliding distance on wear rate. ANOVA is a statisti-
cal technique that aims to discover whether the data
from nominally different groups are statistically differ-
ent. The standard ANOVA output is a table containing
elements as follows: sums of squares (Sum Sq.),
degrees of freedom (d.f), mean squares (Sum Sq./d.f),
F statistic, and p-value (Prob > F). The F statistic is
used in the hypothesis test, and the p value informs on
the significance. A p-value is evidence to reject the
null hypothesis, and suggests that the group means are
significantly different. This statistical technique does
not analyze the data directly, but indicates the per-
centage contribution of each factor by determining the
variance of the data [18, 19].
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
4.1. Wear Behavior
The wear rate as a function of load and weight frac-
tion of Al2O3 (%) for different slide distances is shown
in Fig. 1. Increasing both the load and sliding distance
increases the wear rate. However, a further increase of
weight fractions of alumina reinforcement decreases
the wear rate. Temperature on the surface subjected to
wear increases gradually to due to friction-heat arising
due to wear. The presence of hard Al2O3 particles
strengthens matrix alloy and resists the plastic defor-
mation of the matrix. Moreover, hard Al2O3 particles
also improve load-bearing capacity and thermal sta-
bility of metal matrix. Consequently, reduction of
material adhesion to the disc surface leads to a lower
rise in temperature [20]. The results of metallographic
investigation of the matrix alloy and composites are
shown in Fig. 2. Metallographic specimens were
etched with a solution containing 75 ml HCl, 25 ml
HNO3, 5 ml HF, and 25 ml H2O. As is shown in this
figure it is clear that the addition of Al2O3 particles had
effect on the dendritic structure. The coarse structure
in Al–Si matrix alloy transfers to a fine structure when
adding Al2O3 particles.
Scanning electron microscopy images (SEM) of
the worn surfaces of Al–Si alloy and Al–Si/25% Al2O3
are shown in Fig. 3. Figure 3a shows the worn surface
of the matrix alloy detecting patches of severely dam-
aged regions and deep abrasion grooves due to heavy
plastic deformation [9]. Al–Si matrix alloy was char-
acterized by obvious evidence of ploughing, cutting,
and smearing. The abrasion took place primarily by
ploughing, as the material is displaced on either side of

PHYSICS OF METALS AND METALLOGRAPHY Vol. 120 No. 10 2019

984 MEGAHED et al.

(a) 100 µm (b) 100 µm

(c) 100 µm (d) 100 µm

Fig. 2. Optical microscopic images of (a) Al–Si matrix, (b) Al–Si/10% Al2O3, (c) Al–Si/15% Al2O3, and (d) Al–Si/25% Al.

the abrasion groove without being removed, or by
wedge forming, where little wedge-shaped fragments
are worn only during the initial contact with an abra-
sive particle [21]. Since the matrix alloy without rein-
forcement was much softer than the slider, the slider
could penetrate causing a severe cut into the surface of
the composite specimens, causing plastic deformation
of the surface resulting in a great amount of material
loss. On the other hand, grooves were less severe by
adding 25% Al2O3 particles, as is illustrated in Fig. 3b.
The worn surface consists of localized grooves and
fine scratches. Increasing Al2O3 reinforced particles
on the matrix surface resists the plastic deformation of
the alloy matrix. The presence of alumina reinforced
particles acts as a barrier to the movement of disloca-
tions which resist wear more than base alloy. The mild
patches and grooves are noticed [9].
4.2. Prediction of Wear Rate
with Artificial Neural Network
All of the developed ANNs are of MLP type and
trained using a learning routine with back-propaga-
tion algorithm [22, 23]. The momentum term value of
0.7 and a starting value of one for the learning rate were
chosen for training of ANNs. These values cause a faster
train to solving by the ANN [24]. A batch weight update
method was applied by choosing 50000 maximum
epochs. An independent data set, known as cross vali-
dation data set is used as a training stoppage criterion

PHYSICS OF METALS AND METALLOGRAPHY Vol. 120 No. 10 2019

 MODELING OF WEAR BEHAVIOR 985

Delamination

Wear grooves

(а) (b)
100 µm 100 µm

Fig. 3. SEM images of worn surface of (a) Al–Si matrix, and of (b) Al–Si/25 wt % Al2O3.

Hidden
layer(s)
units

Input
layer
Input information units
Output
Load layer
unit Output information
Al2O3 wt % Wear rate

Sliding distance

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of neural network structure for predicting wear rate.

to improve the generalization of the ANN. A neuroso-
lutions software [25] was used to train, validate, and
test the process of the developed neural networks.
Developing of the required neural networks, from all
the experimental specimens (60 specimens), the spec-
imens were selected randomly as: 40 specimens for
training patterns, 10 specimens for cross validation
patterns, and 10 specimens were used as test patterns.
Five times of training (runs) were obtained for each
ANN. Each run starts with random values for epoch
numbers; initial weights and run that get the minimum
mean squared error (MSE) of sets of validation were
chosen as the required net.
The principle of selecting the best net is the mini-
mization of MSE of the differences between the
desired and predicted values obtained. This gives an
indication of the generalization ability of the devel-
oped ANN. The structure of neural network used for
the prediction of the wear rate is shown in Fig. 4.
Three inputs were supplied to the network (load,
Al2O3 wt %, and sliding distance). To obtain the best
neural network structure, trial neural network struc-
tures were developed by changing the number of hid-
den layers and the number of hidden units within each
hidden layer. Training trials using one and two hidden
layers are shown in Fig. 5. This figure illustrates that

PHYSICS OF METALS AND METALLOGRAPHY Vol. 120 No. 10 2019

986 MEGAHED et al.

1.2E–4 Wear rate, mm3/m Sensitivity about the mean

One hidden layer 0.010
1.0E–4 Two hidden layers
0.008
MSE, (mm3/m)2

8.0E–5

Sensitivity
0.006
6.0E–5
0.004
4.0E–5 0.002

2.0E–5 0
Load, N Al2O3, wt % Sliding
0E+0 distance, m
Input name
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
Number of neurons
Fig. 7. Sensitivity analysis for wear rate of Al–Si/Al2O3
composite.
Fig. 5. Training trials using one and two hidden layers.

tigate the performance of the best network, correlation

0.10 coefficients between the targets and the corresponding
Optimum relation network outputs were developed. A correlation coeffi-
Training data set cient is defined as a measure of how the difference in
Network output, mm3/m

0.08 Validation data set
Test data set
0.06
0.04
0.02
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08
Desired output, mm3/m
Fig. 6. Relationship between actual and predicted values of
the best trained neural network.
least error value for predicting wear rate was obtained
by using 8 neurons and 2 hidden layers. The best net-
work structure is the net which has the structure of
3 input units (load, Al2O3 wt %, and sliding distance),
4 hidden units in the first hidden layer, 4 hidden units
in the second hidden layer, and one output node (wear
rate), i.e. 3–4–4–1 structure, with a MSE of
3.08467 × 10–5 (mm3/m)2.
Figure 6 indicates the relationship between the
actual and predicted values of the best trained neural
network for predicting the wear rate. In order to inves-
outputs is explained by the targets. If the number is
equal to one, this indicates that there is an exact cor-
relation between the targets and outputs of Artificial
Neural Network. Table 3 shows values of correlation
coefficients obtained for training, validation, and test
data sets for the best trained ANN. From this table, it
is obvious that the values of the correlation coefficients
approach unity. From Fig. 6 and Table 3 it is obvious
that the experimental results and predicted values
based on ANN for the wear rate are very close to each
other, which indicates that ANN is an effective tool to
0.10 model and predict the wear rate of Al–Si/Al2O3 com-
posite.
4.2.1. Sensitivity analysis. The data is analyzed for
sensitivity to indicate the effect of different input
parameters on the wear rate. The sensitivity analysis
results are shown in Fig. 7. The sliding distance has the
major influence on the wear rate followed (in contribu-
tion) by alumina weight fraction; however, the applied
load has a relatively low influence on the wear rate.
4.3. Analysis of Variance
From experimental results, increasing both the
load and sliding distance increases the wear rate.
The increase in weight fraction of Al2O3 results in a
decrease of the wear rate. A similar result can be
obtained from the analysis of variance calculations
(see Table 4).

Table 3. The correlation coefficients for training, validation, and test data sets for wear rate prediction
Best network Training data set Validationdata set Test data set
Wear rate (3–4–4–1) 0.980 0.996 0.966

PHYSICS OF METALS AND METALLOGRAPHY Vol. 120 No. 10 2019

 MODELING OF WEAR BEHAVIOR 987

Table 4. ANOVA for wear rate

Source Sum Sq. D.f. Mean Sq. F Prob > F Influence, %
Sliding distance 0.015481 3 0.0051604 121.8397 5.503 × 10–23 57.00
Al2O3% 0.007506 4 0.0018765 44.3049 7.496 × 10–16 27.64
Load 0.002052 2 0.0010262 24.2291 4.395 × 10–8 7.56
Error 0.002118 50 4.23 × 10–5 7.80
Total 0.027157 59

Table 5. The regression coefficients for Eq. (5)

Coeff. Value Coeff. Value Coeff. Value
a0 –0.00141989 a3 0.00002137 a6 0.00000001
a1 0.00005855 a4 –0.00012173 a7 0.00000258
a2 0.00145996 a5 –0.00000211 a8 0.00000002

The generated wear rate is primarily affected by
sliding distance (57%) followed by weight fraction of
Al2O3 (27.63%) while the effect of load is relatively
small (7.55%).
4.4. Multiple Regression Model
Multiple regression models are developed in order
to correlate the weight fraction of Al2O3, load, and
sliding distance with wear rate. In this study, a multi-
variable regression model was used to predict the
dependence of wear rate (Wr) on sliding distance (D),
weight fraction of Al2O3 (P), and load (L). In multiple
regressions, we want to find the smallest subset of pre-
dictors, which gives the best fit to the observed data.
The objective in finding the best equation is to find the
simplest model with the least number of variables that
fits the data.
The third-order model adopted here includes all
the terms in the first, second, and third-order models
and all cross product terms. The third-order model is
flexible, as it has the possibility to take a variety of
functional forms. The equation for the response sur-
face (wear rate) using a third-order model with the
designed variables is expressed as follows:
k k
y = a0 + 
i =1
ai xi + 
i =1
aii xi2 +
k −1
k k
+  aiii xi +
3
a
i =1 i =1 j =i +1
k − 2 k −1 k
+   a xx x ,
i =1 j =i +1 k = j +1
ij i
where ai, aii, aij, aiii, aiij, aijk are the regression coeffi-
cients, k is the number of independent variables, and
xi, xj, and xk are the design variables corresponding to
speed, feed, and pre-wear, respectively. The coeffi-
cients of the polynomial in Eq. (3) are determined
through least squares regression that minimizes the
sum of the squares of the deviations of the predicted
values from the actual values. Some criterion must be
used for choosing the best model. It is useful to have
some criterion for selecting the best fit between the
model and the data. The most popular criteria are the
coefficient of multiple determinations, R2, and
the mean squared error, MSE.
The approach suggested in this study is the selec-
tion of a subset of important variables in a complex lin-
ear model to compare all possible subsets. This
method simply fits all the possible combinations of
predictors and chooses the best one based on the cri-
teria described above. A special purpose MATLAB
code was developed based on the search for the best
regression model described before. The developed
code automatically generates and fits all possible sub-
sets. This problem has an intrinsic combinatorial char-
acter which usually includes large number (2n – 1,
where n is the number of predictors) of possible mod-
els. For example, with 20 predictors, there are 1048575
possible models.
The mathematical relationship for correlating the
k −1 k wear rate was obtained. The coefficient of multiple deter-
a xx
i =1 j = i +1
ij i j
mination (R2) and the mean squared error (MSE) were
calculated. The equation can be expressed as follows:
Wr ( D, P, L ) = a0 + a1 D + a 2 P + a3L
2
iij xi x j (3) (4)
+ a4 P + a5DP + a 6 DL + a7P + a8DPL,
2 2 3
j k
MSE = 0.00000438, R = 0.99526623, R2 =
0.99055486.
Table 5 contains the regression coefficients for
Eq. (4). It is known that the closer the value of R2 to
unity and the lower the value of MSE, the better the

PHYSICS OF METALS AND METALLOGRAPHY Vol. 120 No. 10 2019

988 MEGAHED et al.
regression model that fits the experimental data. The
values of multiple regression model criteria (MSE and
R2) obtained in Eq. (4) indicate that the multiple regres-
sion models were good to fit the experimental data and
the predicted values obtained from the models.
5. CONCLUSIONS
The effects of the applied load, sliding distance,
and reinforcing particles weight fraction on the dry
sliding wear properties of (Al–Si/Al2O3) MMCs were
investigated at constant sliding velocity of 1 m/s. The
artificial neural networks (ANNs) approach, analysis
of variance (ANOVA), and Multiple regression model
were employed to study the tribological testing param-
eters of (Al–Si/Al2O3) MMCs. The results showed
that an increase in both the load and sliding distance
leads to an increase of the wear rate. However, a fur-
ther increase in the weight fraction of Al2O3 decreases
the wear rate significantly. ANOVA and ANN revealed
that the weight fraction of Al2O3 and the sliding dis-
tance are the dominant factors that influence the wear
rate, while the effect of load is relatively small. The
correlation coefficients for training, validation, and
test data sets for the best trained ANN converge to
unity, which indicates that ANN is an effective model
for predicting the wear rate of Al–Si/Al2O3 composite
materials. In the analysis of wear rate, the value of R2
is 0.99 implying that the suggested regression model
fits very well the experimental data.
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