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Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 10764–10768 www.materialstoday.com/proceedings
AMMMT 2016
Experimental study wear rate of glass fibre reinforced epoxy
polymer composites filled with aluminium powder
Sudeep Kumar Ta, G S Shivashankarb, Kartik Dhoteyc, Jagjit Singhd
a,b,c,d,
Mechanical Engineering Department, Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumkur- 572 103
Abstract
In this work an attempt has been made to analyze experimentally the wear rate of polymer composite made up of glass fiber reinforced epoxy
resin filled with aluminium powder. The wear behavior of the materials was described by experimentally obtaining the friction coefficients along
with wear rates by using a pin-on-flat test apparatus for tribological applications. Firstly, the effects of operating variables such as load, speed
were observed. The wear rate increased linearly as the load increased by keeping the speed constant and also the wear rate increased as the speed
increased by keeping the load constant. Secondly, by the observations of the worn surfaces recorded by using microscope, basic wear
mechanisms were observed and recorded as a function of fiber orientation.
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of Advanced Materials, Manufacturing, Management and Thermal Science
(AMMMT 2016).
Keywords: Epoxy, Wear rate, Composite, Glass fiber, Microstructure, Aluminium powder.
1. Introduction
Composites are now dominating the various fields like aerospace industries, automotive industries, pharmaceutical,
construction, sporting and other engineering areas. This work is a personal view of our present understanding of this
topic. Generally there are 2 types of wear processes occur, one is the cohesive wear and the other is interfacial wear,
which are investigated and analyzed. Generally cohesive wear process describes the dissipation of frictional work
and the corresponding damage in relatively large volumes adjacent to the interface. Abrasion & fatigue wear caused
by attractive stresses are covered in this category [1, 2].
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +918147450663
E-mail address:
[email protected]2214-7853 © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of Advanced Materials, Manufacturing, Management and Thermal Science (AMMMT 2016).
G S Shivashankar.etal / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 10764–10768 10765
Adhesion and Deformation are the two main non-interacting components of friction. Briscoe described the
distinguished features of polymers because of their behavior. Polymeric composite materials are fabricated by
reinforcing inorganic substances into polymer matrix. It is suggested that by increasing the filler content or
decreasing filler dimensions, a considerable improvement in the area of contact between the matrix and filler which
would incredibly and adequately enhance the propagation of load between the polymer matrix & filler material [3].
Advancement in composite materials has increased attention in the tribological applications. With their incredible
structural performance, fiber-reinforced polymer composites exceed expectations in abrasive-type systems like
conveyor systems, earth-moving and mining equipments [4]. However, the requirement for an on a very basic level
comprehension of abrasive wear behavior of fibre-reinforced polymers still exists. A feature of glassy polymers is
that they don’t transfer coherent films of relatively damaged material to adjacent faces during sliding [5, 6].
This paper presents a study on Aluminium powder filled polymer-based composite materials with enhanced
properties for low wear and low friction applications. Initially the effect of variation of matrix to reinforcement ratio
is summarized and then the effect of load and speed modification is analyzed. Finally some conclusions are
presented. The inclusion of the Aluminium powder into the Epoxy/Glass fiber polymer blend can substantially
enhance its stiffness and thermal stability.
2. Experimental Details
2.1. Materials Used
LY556/HY951 (RT cure type): LY556 resin is a bifunctional epoxy resin ie., diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A
(DGEBA) and HY951 is an aliphatic primary amine, viz., triethylene tetramine – TETA. Mixing ratio is 10:1
Medium-viscosity; unmodified epoxy resin LY-556 possesses excellent mechanical properties and resistance to
chemicals, which can be modified within wide limits by using different hardeners as well as fillers. It is used with
Hardener HY-951. E-glass fiber is economical and having good strength. Aluminium has been used as filler material
which is widely used due to its good strength, weldability, immunity to stress corrosion cracking as well as heat
treatability. In our present study Aluminium fine powder of 200 mesh is used. The Physical and Mechanical
properties of the E-GFRE composite are listed in Table 1 and Table 2, respectively.
Table 1: Physical Properties of matrix, reinforcement and filler materials
Glass Al
Components Epoxy
Fiber powder
60 20 20
Amount (wt. %) 70 10 20
80 10 10
Table 2: Mechanical Properties of matrix, reinforcement and filler materials
Density
Material/Properties Hardness
gm/cc
Matrix Epoxy Resin LY556 1.15 30
Reinforcement E-glass fiber 2.49 57
Filler - Al powder 200mesh 2.7 160
10766 G S Shivashankar.etal/ Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 10764–10768
2.2. Fabrication of specimen
Fabrication was done by RT cure type (Room temperature method). Initially the glass fiber was chopped into
small strands at the aspect ratio approximately 10:1. Calculation was done to know the weight fraction of epoxy,
glass fiber and Al powder which were then measured and mixed thoroughly along with suitable quantity of hardener
HY-951 as a curing agent for epoxy LY-556 and poured into the molds of diameter 12mm and length 30mm. The
casting was cured at room temperature for approximately 24 hours. These specimens were mixed in the combination
of (60% Epoxy + 20% Glass fiber + 20% Al powder), (70% Epoxy + 10% Glass fiber + 20% Al powder) and (80%
Epoxy + 10% Glass fiber + 10% Al powder). Finally the specimens were taken out of the mold and prepared for
testing.
2.3. Testing
In this current study, the specimens were subjected to test on a pin-on-flat test apparatus to study the wear rate
when subjected to different loads and speeds. The specimen was held firmly on a collet and the collet was fixed to
the horizontal bar which carries the variable loads. Tests were carried out at different loads along with variable
speed and the results obtained in the form of graphs. The wear rate was calculated by weight reduction method.
These specimens were also tested for hardness in Brinell Hardness Testing machine.
3. Results and Discussions
3.1. Microstructural Studies
(a) (b)
(c) (d)
G S Shivashankar.etal / Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 10764–10768 10767
(e) (f)
Fig. 1 Showing the microscopic images of specimens with different Epoxy-Glass Fiber-Al ratios (a & b) 60-20-20, (c & d) 70-10-20
and (e & f) 80-10-10
The polished specimens are visualized on different magnification with optical microscope to investigate the
presence of reinforcement and distribution in the matrix material as represented in Fig. 1.
3.2. Wear rate Properties
The wear rate properties were observed during the test of specimens under different loads and speeds. Fig. 2 and
Fig. 3 shows the variation of wear rate against the load and speed respectively.
Fig. 2 Graph plotted for the variation of wear rate against the applied Load.
10768 G S Shivashankar.etal/ Materials Today: Proceedings 4 (2017) 10764–10768
Fig. 3 Graph plotted for the variation of wear rate against the Speed
4. Conclusions
• The optical microphotographs of composites produced by Compo casting method shows non-uniform
distribution of aluminium particles along with chopped glass fiber.
• From the graph it is concluded that wear rate will increase with the increase in load and speed at an
optimum sliding distance of 1000m.
References
[1] Briscoe BJ. Interfacial friction of polymer composites. General fundamental principles. In: Klaus F, editor. Friction and wear of polymer
composites. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1986. p. 25–59.
[2] Briscoe BJ. Friction of organic polymers. In: Singer IL, Pollok HM, editors. Fundamental of friction: macroscopic and microscopic processes.
Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers; 1992. p. 167–82.
[3] Q.-H. Wang, J. Xue, W. Shen and W. Liu, “An Investiga-tion of the Friction and Wear Properties of Nanometer Si3N4 Filled PEEK,” Wear,
Vol. 196, No. 1-2, 1996, pp. 82-86. doi:10.1016/0043-1648(95)06866-X
[4] Sandhya Rao, R.M.V.G.K. Rao. An emerging, energy-efficient cure process for rapid composite manufacture. NAL, Bangalore; 2008.
[5] N.S. El-Tayeb, R.M. Gadelrab. Friction and wear properties of E-glass fiber reinforced epoxy composites under different sliding contact
conditions: Wear 192 (1996) 112-117. Elsevier; 1995.
[6] K. Devendra, T. Rangaswamy. Strength Characterization of E-glass Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites with Filler Materials.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jmmce.2013.16054
