Tribology on Epoxy/Glass Fiber/Carbon Composites - Taguchi Approach

This investigation is a study on dry sliding wear behavior of unreinforced epoxy, epoxy/E-glass fiber and epoxy/E-glass fiber/carbon particles composite. Pin on disc wear test based on Taguchi's design of experiment were carried out. For this purpose four control parameters such as speed (200, 400 and 600 rpm), load (20, 30 and 40 N), sliding distance (300, 600 and 900 m) and percentage reinforcement were considered at three levels. ANOVA is employed to identify the significant parameters which influence the responses like weight loss and coefficient of friction. It is observed that the load and percentage reinforcement have significant influence on weight loss, where as in case of coefficient of friction load, percentage of reinforcement and speed were the influencing parameters. It is observed that the addition of carbon particles has considerably reduced the wear in composites. Confirmation experiments were carried out, which exhibited minimum acceptable difference between the predicted and the experimental values. It is also suggested that the carbon particles at nano level may further increase the wear resistance.