Investigation on abrasive wear behavior of coir dust reinforced polymer Matrix composites

Abstract

In the present work coir dust reinforced epoxy matrix composites of different compositions (varying the amount of reinforcement) are prepared by hand lay-up method, at the room temperature. The abrasive wear property of the composites are examined in dry conditions on a pin-on-disc machine against 400μm grit size abrasive paper, with test speed of 0.540 m/sec and normal loads of 5,10,15,20, and 25N.The experimental results shown that, the abrasive wear resistance of the composite depends on the coir dust concentration, sliding distance and applied normal load. The abrasive wear resistance decreases with increase in normal load and increases with increasing coir dust content, because at higher coir dust loading,wear mechanism was dominated by reinforcement , which is less brittle than the epoxy matrix.The worn surface morphologies were examined by SEM and possible wear mechanisms has been discussed.