Development and study of erosion characteristics of PEEK - glass fiber composites

Abstract

The present work deals with the development and study of erosion wear behaviors of poly ether ether ketone(PEEK) - Glass-fiber (GF) and PEEK-GF-REDMUD composites. This work, study of its various mechanical properties like tensile strength, flexural strength and density. This work also includes erosion behaviors wrt. Varying Velocity and angle of impact of erodent. Comparison of properties of PEEK-GF and PEEK-GF REDMUD composites gives a detailed idea about the effect of REDMUD in PEEK-GF composites. For preparation of the composites clean glass plates were taken. Mould release sheets were placed on the plates. Mould release spray was applied on them. The catalyst and accelerator were added to the polyester in proportion 1.5% and 1% respectively and are thoroughly mixed. For preparation of different composites i.e. is neat PEEK-GF composite, Red mud filling PEEKGF composite , this mixture was sprayed on the sheets to a thickness of about 2mm followed by a piece of glass fiber mat(cut in the shape of a rectangle). Again another layer of resin was sprayed. Thus a single layer of composite is formed. Load was applied on all these preparations and these were left for 48 hours for adequate curing and solidification. Then the mould release sheets were removed and molded composites were taken out. It may be mentioned that in all these composites the fiber orientation was set at 90 0. The important factors influencing the erosion rate of materials are the impact velocity, impact angle of erodent particles, the size, shape and hardness of eroding particles. This has been reported by a number of researchers for a wide range of materials and erodent. Many Investigators have used angular silica sand, alumina, corundum particles or irregular silicon Carbide abrasives. In the present study dry silica sand is used as erodent. Hence it is difficult to compare present erosion data precisely with literature data. It can be concluded that reinforcement of glass fiber into the PEEK matrix improves the flexural strength quite significantly, thus making them potential materials for structural applications. Addition of Red Mud to glass fiber reinforced composites also enhances the flexural strength, flexural modulus and tensile strength of the material. PEEK with glass fiber reinforcement exhibits better resistance to solid particle erosion in comparison to the un-reinforced PEEK resin. The rate of wear of the composite material is also greatly influenced by operational variables like impact angle and the velocity of impact. Further, material variables like erodent and type of composite also affect the erosion rate. The neat PEEK and 20% red mud filling of glass fiber reinforced PEEK composite exhibited maximum erosion rate at an impingement angle of 60 0 under the present experimental conditions studied.