Novel Dragonfly-assisted Black Widow Optimization Strategy to Enhance Si3N4 Wear Performance

Abstract

Rebuilding injured joints with appropriate substitute materials is an important requirement for treating individuals with arthritis. Aseptic loosening is a major problem due to the wear particle production that occurs during movement in artificial joints. Finding materials with the least amount of wear volume loss is the goal of biotribology research to increase joint longevity. One ceramic material that shows promise as a substitute for hip and knee replacements is silicon nitride (Si3N4). As a solid lubricant additive, Hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN) may improve Si3N4 wear performance. With the goal of minimizing wear volume loss (WVL), this research evaluates the ideal load and hBN volume percentage in Si3N4. A mathematical model is informed by the experiments, which are carried out using the Design of Experiments (DoE) - Taguchi approach. In order to find the ideal hBN % for minimising wear volume loss against an Alumina (Al2O3) counterface, the model is processed by Dragonfly-assisted Black Widow Optimisation (DA-BWO). Taguchi technique finds 12 N load and 6% hBN volume, but DA-BWO optimization offers 10.632% hBN volume and 9.75 N load to minimise wear volume loss of Si3N4.