Parametric optimisation of three-body abrasive wear behaviour of long and short carbon fibre reinforced epoxy composites

Abstract

In this article, the three body abrasive wear behaviour of long and short carbon fibre reinforced epoxy composites at five different fibre loading (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 wt-%) has been evaluated. Three body abrasive wear tests are conducted to notice the effect of loss in weight of the specimen. The loss in weight of the material during three body abrasion can be tested using DUCOM Tr-50 Dry Abrasion Tester. The steady state specific wear of the composites can be evaluated for normal load and sliding speed by keeping other parameters constant. The results revealed that the wear rate increases with the increase in the value of normal load for long as well as short carbon fibre reinforced epoxy composites whereas, with the increase in the value of sliding velocity the specific wear rate decreases in both cases. Wear characteristics and their significant factor settings are successfully analysed using statistical methods, Taguchi experimental design and analysis of variance (ANOVA) respectively. Finally, the experimental wear rate results are compared with the theoretical one and the error lies within the acceptable limit i.e. for long carbon fibre composites the error values are within 8·11 and 5·56% for that of short carbon fibre composites. The SEM micrographs studies reveal the dynamics of three body abrasive wear and underlying micromechanisms that serve as determinant for wear performance of such composites.