Mechanical and three-body abrasive wear behaviour of three-dimensional glass fabric reinforced vinyl ester composite

Abstract

The mechanical and three-body abrasive wear behaviour of two- and three-dimensional E-glass woven fabric reinforced vinyl ester composites were studied in this article. The mechanical properties were evaluated using universal testing machine as per ASTM D-638. Three-body abrasive wear tests were conducted using rubber wheel abrasion tester (RWAT) under different abrading distances at two loads, wherein the wear volume loss were found to increase and that of specific wear rate decrease. The results indicate that the three-dimensional glass woven fabrics in vinyl ester (G 3D–V) have significant influence on wear under varied abrading distance/loads. Further, it was found that G 3D–V composite exhibited lower wear rate compared to two-dimensional glass woven fabric reinforced vinyl ester (G 2D–V) composite. The worn surface features, as examined through scanning electron microscope (SEM), show ruptured glass fiber in G 2D–V composite compared to G 3D–V composites.