Investigation and Optimization of Sn/Gr Lubricants Effects on Cold Extrudability of Fe-TiC Nanocomposite Using Taguchi Robust Design Method

The present study deals with the effects of both tin (Sn) and graphite (Gr) powders on the cold extrudability of Fe-TiC nanocomposites as lubricant. The production process includes low-energy ball milling, powder metallurgy and cold direct Extrusion. Due to various factors influencing the extrudability of the Fe-TiC nanocomposites, such as milling time, rate of extrusion, type and content of lubricant and etc, Taguchi robust design method of system optimization was used to determine the approximate contribution percent (% ρ) of each factor. In order to investigation of Fe-TiC properties, samples with best quality of extrusion were analyzed by XRD and SEM investigations. The results indicate that, sitting the atomic layers of Sn lubricant between Fe and TiC particles leads to decreasing the friction. In this case sliding the particles on each other is easier and a part of the load is applied on lubricant. The results of extrusion of samples indicate that using 2% Sn admixed and die wall graphite lubrication can improve cold extrudability of Fe-TiC nanocomposites