Optimization of Tribological Property of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Nano Filler Filled Polymer Composites Using Taguchi Method

Abstract

The field of nano-composites has become an interesting area of research and development. The tribological performance of epoxy based composites filled with woven carbon fabric with nano (Al2O3 + SiC) sized hybrid fillers in different proportions were investigated. The samples are prepared by varying the concentrations of fillers such as 1% and 2% nano fillers by weight manually followed by compression molding. Erosion tests were conducted at different parameters such as erodent size, impingement angle, impact velocity of sand and time. By the addition of nano particles, the tribological property has improved because of improved surface area. In the present work Taguchi (L27 orthogonal array) technique a statistical technique is applied to optimize the variables of process leading to least rate of erosion for the polymer composites. Significance of various factorslike impact velocity, abrasive particle size, time, filler % and impingement angle are found using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).