Evaluation of the Wear Behaviour of Thermally Aged E Glass Reinforced Epoxy Composite Filled with Wollastonite Using Taguchi L27 Technique

• Published in: Journal of the Institution of Engineers (India): Series D Vol. 103; no. 2; pp. 505 - 512
• Main Authors: Lokesh, K. S., Pinto, Thomas, Mayya, D. Shrinivasa, Shanmugam, Bharath Kumar, Panduranga, B. P., Hanumanthappa, Harish, Mohanraj, G. T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New Delhi Springer India 2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: E glass; Engineering; Fillers; Glass fiber reinforced plastics; Glass-epoxy composites; Low level; Microstructural analysis; Optimization; Original Contribution; Regression coefficients; Scanning electron microscopy; Statistical analysis; Taguchi methods; Wear resistance; Wear tests; Wollastonite; Wollastonite; Taguchi L27; Epoxy composite; E glass; Wear
• ISSN: 2250-2122; 2250-2130
• DOI: 10.1007/s40033-022-00343-z

In the present study, the E glass reinforced epoxy composite filled with wollastonite was developed. Taguchi’s L27 technique was selected for developing and analysing the effects of control factors on the wear behaviour of composites. The control factors considered for the present study was filler (%), time (minute) and temperature (°Celsius). The wear experiments were carried out using pin on disc arrangements for different experimental conditions. After the wear test, the microstructural analysis was carried out on the specimens using scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. The regression coefficient of 98.8% and probability plot shows that the model was accurate and valid. From the optimization results, it was clear that the 7% filler percentage (high level), 5 min sliding time (low level) and 50 °C temperature (high level) will yield high wear resistance and lower material loss due to the wear of the composites. Further, a confirmation test with the optimized condition was conducted and validated using the SEM image. The results also showed that the Taguchi technique effectively studies the effects of the control factors for obtaining the maximum wear resistance of the composites.