Dry Sliding Wear Characteristics Of Epoxy Composites Filled With Steel Industry Slag And Sludge Particles: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Composite materials are being developed to replace conventional materials for many reasons such as high specific strength, higher fracture toughness, good resistance to heat/cold/moisture, low price, low density, and simple fabrication. Composites with these properties can be a replacement in place of metals and wood. Polymer composites have found applications in wide range engineering fields due to their low density and high strength as compared to metal alloys and monolithic. Utilization of commercial wastes such as slag and sludge particles as potential filler in polymers has not been very common in the field of composite research. Due to the high cost of filler materials like metal and alloy in polymer matrix, investigating the chances of using low cost industrial wastes as potential filler material has become the need of the hour. Therefore the present research describes the processing and studies the dry sliding wear characteristics of Linz - Donawitz sludge (LD sludge) filled epoxy composites. Composites with various wt. percentages (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 wt.%) of LD sludge are fabricated by solution casting technique. The micro-hardness, flexural and tensile strength of these composites are evaluated as per ASTM test standards and are then weigh against those of a similar set of blast furnace slag (BF slag) and Linz - Donawitz slag (LD slag) (wastes produced in iron and steel industries) filled epoxy composites. The sliding wear characteristics of these epoxy - LD sludge composites have also been studied as per ASTM G 99 test standard and the experimental outcomes are analyzed with the reported sliding test results under similar test conditions by previous investigators. The effects of different control factors on the sliding wear characteristics of these fabricated epoxy-LD sludge composites with and without LD sludge addition are examined. A systematic experiment using Taguchi’s experimental design reveals that LD sludge content and sliding velocity are most major process parameters that affect the specific wear rate of the epoxy-LD sludge composites. The comparative study indicates that epoxy - LD sludge composites exhibit relatively superior mechanical and wear properties than other two type of composites considered in this study.