Low stress abrasion of laser irradiated GFRP composites: an experimental and microstructural study

Abstract

The present paper reports, the mechanism of material removal during low stress abrasive wear of high weight percent glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) composites. Two different geometries of glass fibre reinforcement namely woven roving (WR) and chopped strand mat (CSM) were used. Unsaturated isophthalic polyester and bisphenol based epoxy resins were used as matrix for the reinforcement. Rubber Wheel Abrasion Tester (RWAT) was used for evaluating the abrasive wear behaviour of the composites. The composite samples were irradiated using a low power He-Ne laser for different time periods, having intensity of 5 mW. The abrasive wear performance of the composites has been determined as a function of applied load, sliding distance and laser irradiation time. The microstructural features of the abraded surfaces of both the laser irradiated and unirradiated composites have been observed by using a scanning electron microscope. Unsaturated polyester based glass fibre woven roving (WR) composite had a higher wear volume as compared to the epoxy based composite. The trend reversed in the case of chopped strand mat (CSM) composites, in which epoxy-based composite showed higher wear volume. The abrasive wear volume of all the composites decreased on irradiating it with laser. These results have been discussed, based on experimental wear data and observed microstructural features of the abraded surfaces.