Erosion Wear Response of Flyash-Glass Fiber-Polyester Composites: A Study using Taguchi Experimental Design

Abstract

Glass fiber reinforced polyester (GFRP) composite finds widespread application in erosive environment due to its several advantages like high wear resistance, high strength-to-weight ratio and low cost. Flyash, an industrial waste, has tremendous potential to be utilized as filler material in polymer based composites because it is basically a mixture of oxide ceramics. This study makes use of a methodology based on Taguchi’s experimental design approach to characterize the erosion response of these composites. The procedure eliminates the need for repeated experiments and thus saves time, materials and cost. It identifies not only the significant control factors but also their interactions influencing the erosion rate predominantly. A mathematical model based on ductile/semi-ductile mode of erosion is proposed to gain insight on the wear mechanism.Determination of erosion rate using theoretical model confirms with experimental results and hence it can be used as a good predictive model. This model is validated by performing a confirmation experiment with an arbitrarily chosen set of factor combination. Finally, optimal factor settings for minimum wear rate under specified experimental conditions have been determined using genetic algorithm.