Investigation on red brick dust filled epoxy composites using ant lion optimization approach

Abstract

This article reports on the characterization and erosion wear performance of a new class of epoxy composites filled with micro‐sized red brick dust (RBD) particles. Although a number of ways for its utilization have been suggested in the past, its potential as a filler material in polymeric matrices has not yet been explored so far. In this work, composites with different RBD content are prepared by simple hand layup technique. The composites are characterized in regard to their density, porosity, micro‐hardness, and strength properties. Solid particle erosion trials are conducted following a well‐planned experimental schedule based on Taguchi design‐of‐experiments. The morphology of composite surfaces is then examined by scanning electron microscopy. Furthermore, a novel nature‐inspired ant lion optimizer (ALO) algorithm is proposed in this work to achieve minimum erosion wear rate. This algorithm mimics the behavior of antlions in nature. It provides a very competitive result over other evolutionary algorithms due to its characteristics like improved exploration, avoidance of local optima, quick convergence and less number of tuning parameters. The wear rate value obtained by ALO exhibit the lowest one as compared to the traditional Taguchi result. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:3877–3885, 2019. © 2019 Society of Plastics Engineers