Erosion Wear Behaviour of Bamboo Fiber Reinforced Composites Filled with Red mud Particulate

Abstract

The interest in natural fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials is rapidly growing both in terms of their industrial applications and fundamental research. Their availability, renewability, low density, and price as well as satisfactory mechanical properties make them an attractive ecological alternative to glass, carbon and man-made fibers used for the manufacturing of composites1. The natural fiber-containing composites are more environmentally friendly, and are used in many applications such as transportation (automobiles, railway coaches, aerospace), military applications, building and construction industries (ceiling paneling, partition boards), packaging, consumer products, etc. Due to the operational requirement in dusty environments, the erosion characteristic of polymeric composites may be of high relevance. To this end the present investigation deals with the property characterization and utilization of abundantly available and renewable resources of plant fiber such as bamboo. These plant fiber along with industrial waste (red mud) have been used for synthesizing value added composite materials. Relevant engineering properties such as physical and mechanical, resistance to erosion wear etc., of the plant fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites so synthesized were characterized. A plan of experiments, based on the techniques of Taguchi, was performed to acquire data in controlled way. An orthogonal array and the analysis of variance were employed to investigate the erosion wear behavior. The significant control factors and their interactions predominantly influencing the wear rate are identified. The erosion rates of these composites have been evaluated under different operating conditions. The morphology of eroded surfaces is examined by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and possible erosion mechanisms are discussed.