Abstract
The effect of fiber contents on wear behavior of date palm leaf reinforced polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP/DPL) composites has been experimentally investigated. The test samples with fillers in 10, 20, 30, and 40% based on weight of fibers were prepared using injection molding. The optimum fiber content (i.e., 26 wt%) for maximum mechanical strength of the composites was determined by regression analysis. The dry sliding wear tests were conducted for each composition at different sliding velocities (0.392, 0.471, and 0.549 m/s) and sliding distances (188, 254, and 376 m) by applying normal loads of 5, 10, 15, and 20 N using pin-on-disc wear testing machine. The specific wear rate, wear loss, and coefficient of friction were plotted against the normal load and sliding distance at all sliding velocities. The results reveal that incorporation of date palm leaf fibers leads to significant improvement in the wear resistance of composites up to optimum fiber content and then decreases as fiber content increases. Further, it is found that surface modification has significant effect on wear performance. Worn surfaces of some selected samples were studied by scanning electron microscopy to analyze the wear mechanism.
Highlights
Growing environmental awareness has focused considerable interest in the development of nonconventional materials which are renewable, recyclable, biodegradable, sustainable, and ecofriendly
As reported in the review work conducted by Shalwan and Yousif [18] regarding the effect of volume fraction of fiber on tensile strength of natural fiber-reinforced polymer (NFRP) composites, it is found that the strength increases proportionately with the increase in volume fraction and after reaching a specific value, it further deteriorates
Compared to neat Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), 59% increase in tensile strength has been observed for PVP/DPL composites at optimum fiber loading
Summary
Growing environmental awareness has focused considerable interest in the development of nonconventional materials which are renewable, recyclable, biodegradable, sustainable, and ecofriendly. The thermoplastic polymers, in particular, have been proved as good matrix materials for production of natural fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites due to their excellent chemical resistance, high damping properties, low noise emission, good processability, high impact resistance, damage tolerance, and above all high cost-performance ratio [1,2,3]. With regards to the usage of natural fiber-reinforced polymer (NFRP) composite in tribological application, surprisingly few works [13,14,15,16,17,18] have been reported in the tribology literature. As far as tribological behavior of date palm leaf fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite is concerned, almost no works have been done till date.
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