Evaluation of Wear Properties and Water Absorption Behavior of Banana and Sisal Fiber Reinforced Epoxy Hybrid Composites: Influence of Fiber Length

ABSTRACT

The natural fiber composites are emerging as replacement materials in wide engineering fields. In this work, banana, sisal, and banana-sisal fibers of three different fiber lengths namely 3 mm, 5 mm, and 7 mm are used as reinforcements in the epoxy matrix. The composite samples are prepared by using the injection molding technique. Frictional and wear characteristics of the composites are evaluated under dry operating conditions with the parameters like applied load (15–35 N), sliding speed (300–500 rpm) for a duration of 15 mins. Water absorption characteristics are studied at an interval of 6 days for a duration of 120 days. The results indicate that the incorporation of fibers at different lengths influences frictional force, coefficient of friction and specific wear rate of the composites to an extent. Frictional force and specific wear rate are greater at higher loads. Banana-sisal hybrid fiber composites are showing amplified coefficient of friction and specific wear rate than other composites. Composites made of Sisal fibers (12.4%) are showing more resistance to water absorption than banana (21.5%) and banana-Sisal (15.4%) fibers. SEM images explores the wear characteristics of testing surface with presence of micro cutting, fiber breakage, voids, and debris.

摘要

天然纤维复合材料正在广泛的工程领域中作为替代材料出现. 在这项工作中, 香蕉、剑麻和香蕉剑麻纤维三种不同的纤维长度, 即3mm、5mm和7mm, 被用作环氧树脂基体中的增强材料. 采用注射成型技术制备复合材料样品. 复合材料的摩擦和磨损特性在干燥操作条件下进行评估, 参数包括施加载荷(15-35N)、滑动速度(300-500rpm)15分钟. 每隔6天研究吸水特性, 持续时间为120天. 结果表明, 不同长度纤维的加入在一定程度上影响了复合材料的摩擦力、摩擦系数和比磨损率. 载荷越高, 摩擦力和比磨损率越大. 香蕉-剑麻混杂纤维复合材料表现出比其他复合材料更大的摩擦系数和比磨损率. 剑麻纤维(12.4%)制成的复合材料表现出比香蕉(21.5%)和香蕉剑麻(15.4%)纤维更高的吸水性. SEM图像探索了存在微切削、纤维断裂、空洞和碎屑的试验表面的磨损特性.

KEYWORDS:

• Hybrid composite
• tribology characteristics
• water absorption behavior
• specific wear rate
• morphology study

关键词:

• 混杂复合材料
• 摩擦学特性
• 吸水性能
• 比磨损率
• 形貌研究

Highlights

• Air traps in the banana and sisal fiber composite samples varies from 1.13 to 1.65%.

• Fiber length plays crucial role on the tribological properties of composites.

• Sisal fibers shows more resistance to water absorption than banana fiber composites.

• Micro cutting and fiber breakages are noticed on the surface of worn composite samples.

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to acknowledge the support provided by DST-FIST, Government of India (SR/FST/College-235/2014) and DBT-STAR, Government of India (BT/HRD/11/09/2018) for carrying out this research work.

Disclosure statement

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