Erosive Wear Behavior of Glass-Epoxy Hybrid Composites Reinforced with Blast Furnace Slag

Abstract

This paper depicts the processing, mechanical characterization and erosion response of a new class of multi-phase hybrid composites consisting of epoxy resin reinforced with glass fiber and filled with blast furnace slag (BFS) obtained from iron and steel industries. Such glass fiber reinforced epoxy (GFRE) composites are fabricated incorporating BFS as the particulate filler in them with an objective to improve their wear resistance in erosive operating conditions. The effects of slag particles as filler in modifying the physical and mechanical properties of glass-epoxy composites have been studied. It is found that the incorporation of blast furnace slag modifies the mechanical properties like tensile, flexural and inter-laminar-shear strengths of the glass-epoxy composites. The micro-hardness and density of the composites are also greatly influenced by the presence of these fillers. By incorporating these particulate fillers, synergistic effects, as expected are achieved in the form of modified mechanical properties. Inclusion of glass fibers in neat epoxy improved the load-bearing capacity (tensile strength) and the ability to withstand bending (flexural strength) of the composites. Experiments are carried out to study the effects of BFS content and other control factors on the solid particle erosion behavior of these GFRE composites. The erosion rates (ER) are evaluated at different impingement angles ranging from 300 to 900 at different impact velocities.