Comparative Analysis of Erosive Wear Behaviour of Epoxy, Polyester and Vinyl Esters Based Thermosetting Polymer Composites for Human Prosthetic Applications Using Taguchi Design.

Jeetendra Mohan Khare,Shubham Sharma,Sanjeev Dahiya,Lalit Ranakoti,Changhe Li,Rushdan Ahmad Ilyas,Somnath Chattopadhyaya,Shashi Prakash Dwivedi,Muhammad Roslim Muhammad Huzaifah,Huseyin Cagan Kilinc,Brijesh Gangil

doi:10.3390/polym13203607

Abstract

In polymer composites, synthetic fibers are primarily used as a chief reinforcing material, with a wide range of applications, and are therefore essential to study. In the present work, we carried out the erosive wear of natural and synthetic fiber-based polymer composites. Glass fiber with jute and Grewia optiva fiber was reinforced in three different polymer resins: epoxy, vinyl ester and polyester. The hand lay-up method was used for the fabrication of composites. L16 orthogonal array of Taguchi method used to identify the most significant parameters (impact velocity, fiber content, and impingement angle) in the analysis of erosive wear. ANOVA analysis revealed that the most influential parameter was in the erosive wear analysis was impact velocity followed by fiber content and impingement angle. It was also observed that polyester-based composites exhibited the highest erosive wear followed by vinyl ester-based composites, and epoxy-based composites showed the lowest erosive wear. From the present study, it may be attributed that the low hardness of the polyester resulting in low resistance against the impact of erodent particles. The SEM analysis furthermore illustrates the mechanism took place during the wear examination of all three types of composites at highest fiber loading. A thorough assessment uncovers brittle fractures in certain regions, implying that a marginal amount of impact forces was also acting on the fabricated samples. The developed fiber-reinforced polymer sandwich composite materials possess excellent biocompatibility, desirable promising properties for prosthetic, orthopaedic, and bone-fracture implant uses.

Highlights

Fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials are the modern materials applied in various applications such as automobile interiors, construction articles, transportation materials, packaging, and household ware [1,2,3]
Natural fiber/synthetic fiber reinforced polymeric composites have been successfully fabricated with three different polymer resins by hand lay-up process for the analysis of erosive wear behavior
The obtained results from the investigation revealed that impact velocity is the most significant control factor in the analysis of erosive wear

Summary

Introduction

Fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials are the modern materials applied in various applications such as automobile interiors, construction articles, transportation materials, packaging, and household ware [1,2,3]. Natural fiber reinforced polymer composites exhibit quite remarkable mechanical properties but far lower than synthetic counterparts [8,9,10]. To optimize parameters such as strength, cost, etc., and minimize the hazardous environmental effects, hybridization of natural and synthetic fiber has been performed. The hybrid composite was prepared by incorporating Cocos nucifera and Lufa cylindrical fiber at a weight fraction of

Methods

Results

Conclusion