Role of fillers on three‐body abrasive wear behavior of glass fabric reinforced epoxy composites

Abstract

Abstract The article summarizes an experimental study on the abrasive wear behavior of particulate filled glass‐epoxy (G‐E) composites. The two fillers investigated were graphite and alumina. The wear behavior was assessed by rubber wheel abrasion tests. The tests were carried out for 270, 540, 810, and 1080 m abrading distances at 22 and 32 N loads. The worn surfaces were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed varied responses under different abrading distance because of the addition of fillers in G‐E composites. Graphite filler, however, performed poorly resulting in significant deterioration in wear performance while the alumina filled G‐E composite showed improved abrasion resistance. Selected mechanical properties such as hardness, tensile strength, and elongation at fracture were analyzed for investigating wear property correlations. The SEM studies indicate the reasons for failure of composites and influencing parameters. POLYM. COMPOS., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers