Optimization of Wear Test Parameters for Silica Nanoparticles Reinforced Polymer Composites

Abstract

This study examines the wear properties of Jute fibre epoxy nanocomposites incorporating silicon (Si). Nanocomposites were prepared with different Si concentrations (0, 0.25 and 0.5 wt%). Various composite materials were manufactured using the hand layup method. The Taguchi method was employed to optimize the wear testing process and its parameters. Key factors investigated include load (1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 kg) and testing duration (3, 6 and 9 minutes). The results indicated that the lowest wear in terms of mass loss and friction coefficient, was observed at 0.5 wt% Si. The study found that the lowest wear both in terms of mass loss and friction coefficient, occurred with 0.5 wt% Si. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to examine the wear mechanisms. The findings suggest that the optimized value aligns closely with the experimental results. The optimized wear test parameters for wear loss are higher level of wt.% of silica (0.5), lower level of applied load (5N) and lower level of duration (3 minutes). The optimized wear test parameters for Coefficient of Friction (COF). The lower level of wt.% of silica, lower level of applied load (5N) and lower level of applied load and lower level of testing duration (3 minutes) are the optimized wear test process parameters for COF. The confirmation test is conducted for the optimized wear test process parameters for wear loss and COF and obtained wear loss and COF 40.4 mg and 0.26 respectively. The wear loss is 18% is reduced and COF is 36% is reduced for the corresponding optimized process parameters.