Utilization of waste dolomite dust in carbon fiber reinforced vinylester composites

Abstract

The present study was designed to explore the applicability of dolomite dust (a waste from a dolomite quarry) as filler in polymer composites. Therefore, fixed carbon fiber reinforced vinyl ester composites with varying dolomite dust proportions (0, 5, 10 and 15 wt.%) are manufactured and subsequently evaluated for physicomechanical and sliding wear properties. Experimental results indicate that density, void content, impact energy, hardness, tensile modulus, and flexural modulus increase with dolomite content increase. On the other hand, a continuous decrease in tensile and flexural strength was observed with increased dolomite dust content. The sliding wear tests were performed using L16 orthogonal design, considering four parameters: dolomite dust, sliding distance, applied load, and sliding velocity according to the Taguchi method. It was found that dolomite dust was the most noteworthy parameter of wear rate, followed by applied load and sliding distance.