Steady state analysis on sliding wear behavior of waste marble dust filled kenaf-polyester compositesAnalyse des Gleitverschleißverhaltens von mit Marmorstaub gefüllten Kenaf-Polyester-Verbundwerkstoffen im stationären Zustand

In view of the rising demand of natural fiber reinforced polymers in engineering applications, the current research is taken on to study the effects of particulate filling in polyester-kenaf fiber composite in terms of its sliding wear performance. A set of polyester-based hybrid composites are fabricated with fixed kenaf fiber content and varied quantities of waste marble dust (0 wt. %, 16 wt. % and 32 wt. %). These composites are subjected to dry-sliding wear trials as per ASTM G-99 05 under different test conditions and the specific wear rate are estimated. The test results are analyzed to obtain the parametric appraisal of the wear process using response surface method. The analysis reveals that the filler content followed by sliding velocity, normal load and sliding distance has the detrimental impact on the specific wear rate of such hybrid composites. A morphological study is performed using a scanning electron microscope to identify prominent wear mechanisms and it is found that the wear loss is primarily due to the formation of wear tracks, cracks, craters, plastic deformation, wear debris and the removal of matrix layer etc. during the sliding process. Waste marble dust, an ornamental stone waste is compatible as a secondary filler in the kenaf-polyester composite system. The incorporation of marble dust in the fiber-polymer composite system marked very low wear loss as compared to the unfilled ones. The analysis of worn composite surfaces revealed the possible mechanisms causing the wear loss to the composites.image