PREDICTION OF VIRTUAL FATIGUE PARAMETERS OF FLY ASH, BORON NITRIDE, AND SUGARCANE FIBER-REINFORCED EPOXY COMPOSITE

Abstract

Composite materials are blended in such a way that their properties are multi-fold their components' properties. The use of green materials, as components, makes the product eco-friendly and that needs to prove product quality. This work identifies the fatigue limit of 3D-modeled composite laminate and virtually predicts the fatigue life cycle under a certain fatigue load. The 3D model is assigned with the properties of the different combinations of epoxy composite and fatigue analysis is carried out. The epoxy composite considered in the analysis has fly ash, boron nitride (BN), and sugarcane (SC) fiber as reinforcements. A central composite design (CCD) method under response surface methodology (RSM) has been used to develop the experimental trials. The regression equations of the RSM model are utilized to study the influences of reinforcements and their wt. % in the determined fatigue limit and fatigue life cycle. The results show that the fatigue limit of the composite is maximum when the wt. % of fly ash and BN is 2% and 1%, respectively. However, the fatigue life cycle is maximum with 2% wt. of sugarcane (1982 × 10<sup>3</sup> cycles) amidst minimum fly ash and BN. This work emphasizes the blending of specific wt. % of reinforcement in epoxy has significant control on the fatigue properties of the composites.