Processing, Characterization and Erosion Wear Behaviour of Coir Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Composites

Abstract

Now-a-days, natural fibers have been receiving considerable attention as the substitute for synthetic fiber reinforcement such as glass in plastics. Among various fibers, coir is most widely used natural fiber due to its advantages like easy availability, low cost, low density, low production cost and satisfactory mechanical properties.The objective of the present research work is to study the physical, mechanical, water absorption and erosion wear behaviour of coir fiber reinforced epoxy composites filled with Al2O3 filler. Twenty different samples without filler and twenty samples with constant filler content of 10 wt% were prepared by varying the length of the fiber (3 mm, 6 mm, 9 mm, 12 mm and 15 mm) and content of fiber (5 wt%, 10 wt%, 15 wt% and 20 wt%) using hand lay-up technique. The density, hardness, tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural strength, impact energy and percent of water absorption of the composites were analyzed. The erosion wear of these composites have been evaluated at different impingement angles (30°, 45°, 60°, 75° and 90°) and at different impact velocities (48m/s, 70m/s, 82m/s and 109m/s).The effect of fiber length and content on the properties of composites is also analyzed. A comparison has been made between composites with and without Al2O3 filler. It has been observed that composites filled with Al2O3 filler shows better mechanical and wear properties as compared to composites without filler. A multi-criteria decision making approach called TOPSIS is also used to select the best material from a set of alternatives. The morphology of eroded surfaces is examined by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and possible wear mechanisms are discussed.