Tribological and mechanical properties of nanofilled glass fiber reinforced composites and analyzing the tribological behavior using artificial neural networks

Abstract

AbstractThis study investigates the effects of filler content and type on the mechanical (tensile strength and impact resistance) and tribological properties of woven glass fiber‐reinforced composites (WGFC) produced using three different nanofillers (MgO, CuO, and Al2O3) at various loading levels (0.7, 1.4, and 2.8 wt%). Additionally, analyses of the artificial neural network algorithm were reported for the predictions of wear rate, mass loss, and coefficient of friction (COF) by given applied load, sliding distance, filler ratio, and filler type. The composites were fabricated using the hand lay‐up method. The filled composites were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and the worn surfaces of the samples after the wear test were analyzed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The wear resistance of the composite samples improved at 0.7 wt% CuO and 1.4 wt% MgO filler contents. At 200 m sliding distance and 1.4 wt% filler ratio, the highest wear ratio was determined as 55 mm3/m × 10−3 in the Al2O3‐filled composite, and the lowest was determined as 31 mm3/m × 10−3 in the MgO‐filled composite. At 1.4% filler ratio and 15 N load, the lowest friction coefficient was determined as 0.45 μ in MgO‐filled composite, and the highest was 0.56 μ in Al2O3‐filled composite. Al2O3 filler increased the mass loss and wear rate of the composite material. In Charpy impact tests, the maximum impact energy of 13.9 J/m2 was obtained with a 2.8 wt% Al2O3 filler content. Tensile tests showed an increase in tensile strength for all filler contents compared to unfilled composites. The highest tensile strength of 242.1 MPa was achieved with 0.7 wt% CuO reinforcement.Highlights In all applied wear parameters and filler ratios, the Al2O3 filler adversely affected the wear resistance of the composite, while the MgO filler showed the best performance in terms of wear resistance. All types and ratios of fillers increased the tensile strength compared to the unfilled composite. Contrary to its negative effect on wear, the Al2O3‐filled composites exhibited the highest impact resistance. The prediction analysis of the tribological behavior of composite material using ANN reveals that the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm fits very well.