WEAR CHARACTERISTICS AND VIBRATION ANALYSIS OF SHELL POWDER FILLED GLASS FIBER REINFORCED EPOXY COMPOSITE LAMINATES

Abstract

Research of composites with natural fillers is very useful in many engineering applications.The present study mainly deals with the fabrication of Glass/Epoxy Composites of 60-40% composition with Sea shell powder as filler material.The composite plates are manufactured.The percentage of sea shell powder was varied by 5%, 10% and 15% by volume.The dry sliding wear test was performed on a pin on disc arrangement.The wear tests were performed conventionally.The weight loss increased with more load, sliding velocity and distance.Scanning electron microscope was used to analyse the wear surface of composites.Modal Analysis is carried out using Fast Fourier Transform analyzer, accelerometer and impact hammer to determine the vibrational characteristics of the Glass/Epoxy composite.The analytical results are obtained from NX Nastran.The experimental and Analytical results are compared and they were in good agreement with each other.Glass/Epoxy with 5% sea shell powder filler showed good vibrational characteristics.