Effect of carbonization temperature and fibre content on the abrasive wear of rice husk char reinforced epoxy composite

Abstract

A series of experiments have been conducted to study the effects of different carbonization temperature (850, 900 and 950 ℃) on the abrasive wear behaviour of carbonized rice husk char epoxy composite. The wear behaviour was studied using a pin-on-disc machine against 400 grit size abrasive paper. All the tests were carried out at room temperature under 5, 10, 15 and 20 N normal loads. The effect of carbonization temperature and normal load on the abrasive wear of composite was investigated. The results show that the wear behaviour of pure epoxy improved considerable with the incorporation of carbonized char. It is also found that carbonization temperature of 950 ℃ for 30 wt.% of fibre gives the optimum wear resistance for the composite under study. The worn surface morphology was studied using scanning electron microscope (SEM) to analyse the wear mechanism in different types of developed composites.