Experimental Studies on Abrasion Wear and Thermal Characteristics of Plain Derived Flax Woven Fabric Reinforced Epoxy Composites

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, natural plant fibers are being explored and employed for various industrial applications owing to their attributes such as low weight to strength ratio, cost effectiveness, biodegradability and environment-friendliness. In this work, alkali and trimethoxymethyl silane (ATS) treated plain derived irregular basket woven flax fabric-reinforced epoxy composites (F-E) namely 0-TFE (Neat epoxy), 25-TFE, 35-TFE and 45-TFE with 0, 25, 35 and 45 wt.% fiber contents respectively were prepared by compression molding at room temperature, and studied for their abrasive wear and thermal degradation characteristics as per the standard procedures. Abrasive test was performed on pin on disc with a track diameter of 80 mm (ASTM G-99-05) for varying applied load and different abrasive grits condition for a constant speed of the disc. Wear outcome revealed that wear loss, specific wear rate (SWR) and coefficient of friction (COF) were influenced by the combined effect of applied load and abrasive grits. The composite 45-TFE exhibited better tribological properties amongst the prepared lot. Furthermore, thermal analysis revealed that the fabricated F-E composites are sufficiently thermally stable for structural applications and ATS treated- plain derived flax woven reinforcement enhanced the thermal stability. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to understand the wear mechanisms of composites.

摘要

目前, 天然植物纤维因其重量强度比低, 成本效益高, 生物降解性好, 环境友好等特点, 被广泛应用于各种工业领域. 在本研究中, 通过室温压缩模塑制备了碱和三甲氧基甲基硅烷 (ATS) 处理的普通衍生不规则编织亚麻织物增强环氧复合材料 (F-E), 即0-TFE (纯环氧树脂), 25-TFE, 35-TFE和45-TFE, 纤维含量分别为0, 25, 35和45 wt.%, 并按照标准程序研究了它们的磨粒磨损和热降解特性. 在直径为80mm (ASTM G-99-05) 的销-盘上进行了磨料试验, 以改变施加的负载和不同的磨料条件, 使盘保持恒定速度. 磨损结果表明, 磨损损失, 比磨损率 (SWR) 和摩擦系数 (COF) 受外加载荷和磨粒的综合影响. 在所制备的批次中, 复合材料45-TFE表现出更好的摩擦学性能. 此外, 热分析表明, 所制备的F-E复合材料在结构应用中具有足够的热稳定性, 经ATS处理的普通亚麻机织增强材料增强了热稳定性. 利用扫描电子显微镜 (SEM) 研究了复合材料的磨损机理.

KEYWORDS:

• Flax-Epoxy composites
• abrasion wear
• thermogravimetric analysis
• plain-derived woven
• irregular basket woven
• woven composites
• Vicat softening temperature

关键词:

• 亚麻环氧复合材料
• 磨损
• 热重分析
• 普通衍生机织物
• 不规则篮子机织物
• 编织复合材料
• 维卡软化温度

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).