Comparative Analysis of Erosive Wear Behaviour of Epoxy, Polyester and Vinyl Esters Based Thermosetting Polymer Composites for Human Prosthetic Applications Using Taguchi Design

Abstract

In polymer composites, synthetic fibers are primarily used as a chief reinforcing material, with a wide range of applications, and are therefore essential to study. In the present work, we carried out the erosive wear of natural and synthetic fiber-based polymer composites. Glass fiber with jute and Grewia optiva fiber was reinforced in three different polymer resins: epoxy, vinyl ester and polyester. The hand lay-up method was used for the fabrication of composites. L16 orthogonal array of Taguchi method used to identify the most significant parameters (impact velocity, fiber content, and impingement angle) in the analysis of erosive wear. ANOVA analysis revealed that the most influential parameter was in the erosive wear analysis was impact velocity followed by fiber content and impingement angle. It was also observed that polyester-based composites exhibited the highest erosive wear followed by vinyl ester-based composites, and epoxy-based composites showed the lowest erosive wear. From the present study, it may be attributed that the low hardness of the polyester resulting in low resistance against the impact of erodent particles. The SEM analysis furthermore illustrates the mechanism took place during the wear examination of all three types of composites at highest fiber loading. A thorough assessment uncovers brittle fractures in certain regions, implying that a marginal amount of impact forces was also acting on the fabricated samples. The developed fiber-reinforced polymer sandwich composite materials possess excellent biocompatibility, desirable promising properties for prosthetic, orthopaedic, and bone-fracture implant uses.

Effect of Marble Dust on the Mechanical, Morphological, and Wear Performance of Basalt Fibre-Reinforced Epoxy Composites for Structural Applications

“…The increase in the flexural strength was because of the shear behaviour WMP provided in the composite. Upon loading the specimen, the particles of WMP deformed in the lateral direction and transferred the shear forces to the basalt fibre, which led to more considerable deformation in the lateral direction, which consequently increased the load applied and delayed the time of fracture [ 4 , 5 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ].…”

“…This happened due to the high load bearing capability of both basalt and WMP. WMP acted as a connecting chain between the basalt fibre and epoxy resin promoting transfer of stress, which led to high deformation before fracture [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ]. Moreover, large amount of dislocation formation due to the inclusion of WMP in the composite resulted in higher energy absorption.…”

Effect of Prosopis Juliflora Thorns on Mechanical Properties of Plastic Waste Reinforced Epoxy Composites

“…As shown in Figure 9 , the scanning electron microscope pictures were captured after the sample had ruptured, with the emphasis being on the ruptured area of the sample. SEM images will show the wear and erosion mechanisms that happened during wear testing [ 21 ]. The key effects plot for tensile strength is depicted in Figure 10 in which the tensile strength mean is mentioned in the Y axis and their levels are indicated in X axis.…”

“…The optimum values of these parameters are also found and the validations were done to find out the nearness of the results with the predicted results. The design for specimen production is obtained through Taguchi’s L27 full factorial experimental design, then the prepared specimens are tested and the test results are fed to the software and run for getting the optimum values [ 21 ]. In full factorial design the number of experiments is more, so that the results of the full factorial will be more accurate than the fractional factorial.…”

“…Natural fibers exhibit comparable wear resistance to synthetic fibers. The wear resistance of natural fibers can be increased by reinforcing them with synthetic fibers [ 21 ]. Recent research has concentrated on green fillers such as date seed powders, coconut and cashew nut shell powders, and rice and maize husks.…”