Experimental Investigations on Dry Sliding Wear Behavior of Kevlar and Natural Fiber-Reinforced Hybrid Composites through an RSM-GRA Hybrid Approach.

Banu Murali,Emad Abouel Nasr,Bindu Madhavan Vijaya Ramnath,Antonello Astarita,Hussein Mohamed,Devaraj Rajamani

doi:10.3390/ma15030749

Abstract

The present work aimed to investigate the dry sliding wear behaviors of hybrid polymer matrix composites made up of Kevlar, bamboo, palm, and Aloe vera as reinforcement materials of varying stacking sequences, along with epoxy as the matrix material. Three combinations of composite laminates with different stacking sequences such as AB, BC, and CA were fabricated by a vacuum-assisted compression molding process. The influence of composite laminates fabricated through various stacking sequences and dry sliding wear test variables such as load, sliding distance, and sliding velocity on the specific wear rate and co-efficient of friction were investigated. Experiments were designed and statistical validation was performed through response surface methodology-based D-optimal design and analysis of variance. The optimization was performed using grey relational analysis (GRA) to identify the optimal parameters to enhance the wear resistance of hybrid polymer composites under dry sliding conditions. The optimal parameters, such as composite combinations of CA, a load of 5 N, a sliding velocity of 3 m/s, and a sliding distance of 1500 m, were obtained. Furthermore, the morphologies of worn-out surfaces were investigated using SEM analysis.

Highlights

Bio-resources such as plant, bast, and core are widely used as natural fibers in the present manufacturing scenario for the development of novel structural materials for various high-end applications such as in the automobile, aerospace, marine industries and bioelectronics
The response of the normal plot for the coefficient of friction is shown in Figure 3a and seems to be normally distributed, and it is similar to a straight line, which denotes settled significance between the models
The analysis of variance (ANOVA) results displayed that the proposed quadratic mathematical models are efficient at 95% conformance levels in the prediction of wear behaviors of fabricated composites with a coefficient of determination of 98.92% for specific wear rate (SWR) and 97.09% for coefficient of friction (COF)

Summary

Introduction

Bio-resources such as plant, bast, and core are widely used as natural fibers in the present manufacturing scenario for the development of novel structural materials for various high-end applications such as in the automobile, aerospace, marine industries and bioelectronics. Naturally derived fibers are more efficient than other commercial chemical fibers due to their lower density, non-abrasive manner, enhanced acoustic properties, adequate explicit modulus and strength, cost effectiveness, easy biodegradability, and efficient re-cycle capability, which improve the characteristics of natural fibers [2,3,4,5,6] Despite their potential benefits, the inferior mechanical strength, moisture absorption, and chemical affinity of natural fibers mean they are cumbersome in practical implications [7,8,9]; the hybridization of synthetic fibers with biological fibers is required to improve the mechanical properties and durability of composites [10]. Several researchers have studied the influence of various fabrication techniques, fiber and matrix materials, and inclusion of filler materials on tribological properties such as the wear resistance of HPMCs

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Conclusion