Grey-Taguchi optimization of mechanical and abrasive wear properties for cotton grass fiber reinforced epoxy composites

In this investigation, an effort has been made to analyze the abrasive wear characteristics of cotton grass (CG) reinforced epoxy composites through the hand layup technique. The abrasive wear test is conducted on a dry sand abrasion test machine based on ASTM G65; according to this, the specimen is fabricated with a dimension of 76 x 25 mm(2). The engineering application for the composites requires that it should have high wear resistance, low water absorption, and robust strength. Mechanical properties such as tensile strength, hardness, and impact energy are experimentally investigated and optimized and the optimum results are obtained at 9 wt% of CG contents with magnitude of tensile strength of 45.81 MPa, hardness of 34.17 H-v, and impact energy of 2.2 J. The multiple responses of composites are analyzed using the Gray-Taguchi method and optimal factors settings to improve multiple responses, i.e., abrasive wear rate, water absorption, tensile strength, hardness, and impact energy. The results showed that the most critical factor influencing the properties of composites is CG content (9 wt%), accompanied by sliding velocity (96 m/s), normal load (15 N), and sliding distance (60 m). Scanning electron microscopy is used to analyze the composites' worn surfaces to investigate the potential wear mechanism.