Study of Tribological Behavior of GFRP Hybrid Composite Using Fly-Ash and Graphite as Filler Material

Abstract

In this paper, an attempt has been made to investigate the specific wear rate of the GFRP composite filled with graphite and fly-ash as filler material fabricated by hand lay-up process. Here the wt% of glass fiber is kept constant with 50% and matrix and filler are varied. Three different weight percentages such as 2wt%, 4wt% and 6wt% of filler materials added with 48wt%, 46wt% and 44wt% of epoxy resin respectively. The unlubricated pin-on-disc wear tests are conducted to examine the wear behavior of the GFRP composites. The testing parameters considered are wt% of filler material (%), applied load (N) and sliding distance (S). Specific wear rate is calculated in terms of weight loss of the sample. An orthogonal array and analysis of variance (ANOVA) are applied to investigate the influence of process parameters on the sliding wear behavior of the composites. The result shows that addition of graphite in the epoxy based hybrid composite enhances the capability of material to withstand against sliding wear. It is observed from the range of load and sliding distance in the study that the load has stronger effect on the specific wear rate than wt% of filler material and sliding distance. The weight loss of developed composite increases with an increase in normal applied load keeping the wt% of filler and sliding distance as constant.