An experimental study on two body abrasive wear behavior of natural fiber reinforced hybrid polymer matrix composites using Taguchi analysis

Abstract

In earlier days the synthetic fibre composite material was considerably used for the secondary structures of automobile and aircrafts. But by knowing the performance at critical and elevated conditions natural fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites have been receiving considerable attention as the attribute for synthetic fiber reinforced composites for its functional efficiency, tailorable properties and strength to weight ratio. In the present study, abrasive wear behavior of natural fibre reinforced hybrid polymer matrix composite was carried out using pin-on-disc wear testing rig for abaca, basalt and hybrid abaca- basalt fibre reinforced epoxy using L9 orthogonal array. The tests were carried out on silicon carbide paper with a grit size of 320 µm with varying parameters of Load, Speed, and Time. From the obtained results, it is concluded that the optimal parameters for minimum weight loss is observed at load 10 N, speed 200 rpm and time of 10 min for basalt fibre reinforced epoxy composite and the maximum weight loss is observed for abaca fibre reinforced epoxy composite at load 30 N, 300 rpm and time of 20 min. The results also reveal that the material composition is the most influencing factor affecting the weight loss of the specimen followed by load, time and speed for the adopted testing conditions.