A Study on Erosion Wear Behavior of Benzoyl Chloride Modified Vetiver Grass (Chrysopogon Zizanioides) and Red Mud as Reinforcement in Polymer Based Composites

The present article describes the fabrication and study of erosion wear behavior of novel composite consisting of vetiver grass fiber and red mud as reinforcement in thermosetting polymer. Hand lay-up technique was followed for the fabrication of five sets of composites (C1, C2 horizontal ellipsis C5) by varying the percentage of vetiver grass and red mud. In order to study wear behavior, silica sand particle of approximate size 200 +/- 50 mu m was chosen as erodent. With variation in impact angles (15 degrees, 30 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees and 90 degrees) and impact velocities (48, 70, 82 and 109 m/s), the test was carried out. The influences of impact angle and impact velocity of the erodent on erosion rate were highlighted. Experimental result reveals that composite coded C1 exhibits maximum erosion rate at impact angle 30 degrees while other composites mainly exhibit intense erosion rate at impact angle of 45 degrees irrespective of fiber and red mud loading composition. Minimum erosion was obtained for composite type C5 as compared to other sample type. It was also observed that increase in red mud content enhances the wear resistance. Further the eroded surface texture was examined by scanning electron microscope (SEM).