Comparative investigations on three-body abrasive wear behavior of long and short glass fiber-reinforced epoxy composites

The purpose of this investigation is to determine the three-body abrasive wear behavior of long and short E-glass fiber-reinforced epoxy composites in abrasive environment, subjected to designed experimental setup. A mathematical model for damage assessment in three-body abrasion is developed and validated by a well-designed set of experiments. The design of experiment using Taguchi's orthogonal array is applied to find out minimum specific wear rate. Steady state condition is also applied to find minimum specific wear rate for particular weight fraction keeping other parameters as constant. The experimental results show that the abrasive wear of the composites shows dependence on parameters like applied load, sliding speed, and abrasive particle size. Wear rate of long as well as short glass fiber-reinforced epoxy composites increases with increase in normal load and abrasive particle size, whereas the wear rate decreases up to 40 wt.% of fiber loading and then further increases with increase in sliding speed. The SEM micrograph studies reveal the dynamics of three-body abrasive wear and underlying micro-mechanisms that serve as determinant for wear performance of such composites. The three-body abrasive wear rate in given formulation increases with normal load and abrasive particle size. The mechanical characteristics observed a positive trend with the increase in fiber composition and also help in analyzing the specific wear rate of composites.