Influence of natural fiber addition and fiber length in determining the wear resistance of epoxy‐based composites

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Abstract
Wear testing, in this research was conducted for compression molded flax and ramie fibers with epoxy resin matrix. The 40 wt% fiber combination was used for a fiber length (FL) of 0.5–1.5 cm while varying sliding distance (SD) ranged from 500 to 1500 m. Better results were obtained in 1000 m SD and 1 cm FL with a specific wear rate (SWR) of 13.12 × 10−5 mm3/Nm. Samples with 50 wt% natural fiber combinations were tried with different FL (0.5–1.5 cm) and sliding speed (SS) from 0.5 to 1.5 m/s. Sliding speed increased the contact between the sample and the counter steel disc, which caused high wear rate in the specimen. A high SWR was observed for the combination of SS 1.5 m/s, 0.5 cm FL due to high contact and with lower adhesion of fiber/matrix phase than in the others. Higher FL damages the compatibility of matrix/reinforcement phases, which makes the epoxy sample highly brittle with less wear resistance. The combination of 30 wt% natural fiber with FL (0.5–1.5 cm) and load 5–15 N showed high wear rate at a higher load of 15 N (31.57 × 10−5 mm3/Nm). SEM results with 50 wt% NF combination, 0.5 cm FL at 5 N load showed high deformation in the natural fiber structure compared to the 40 wt% NF combination, mainly due to the adhesion of fiber with epoxy resin which acted as a stress transfer area allowing transfer of more loads.

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