Study on mechanical and tribological behavior of cenosphere filled vinylester composites – A Taguchi method

Abstract

The wear behaviour of vinylester composites filled with uniform sized sub-micron cenosphere particle is discussed in this paper. Three distinct sizes of uniform sized cenosphere particles (dia: 2 <span style="font-family: Calibri;mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;letter-spacing:-.2pt" lang="EN-GB">µm, 900 nm and 400 nm) are prepared in our laboratory and used as model fillers in composites. The experiments have been carried on a pin on disc arrangement at normal temperature conditions. <span style="mso-bidi-font-style:italic">The influence of friction and wear parameters like normal load, speed, sliding distance and filler content on the friction and wear rate has been investigated. In this study, a<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"> plan of experiments, based on the techniques of Taguchi, is performed to acquire data in a controlled way. An orthogonal array L₂₇ (3¹³) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) are applied to investigate the influence of process parameters on the coefficient of friction and sliding wear behaviour of these composites. The tensile, flexural and compressive strength of the vinylester composites are determined on a universal materials testing machine. It is found that the submicron size particulates as the fillers contributed significantly to improve the mechanical properties and wear resistance of the vinylester composites. The wear mechanisms are studied by scanning electron microscopy.

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