Optimizing the Effect of Addition of Ma-G-Pe Compatibilizer on Two-Body Abrasive Wear behavior Of eva/Hdpe Polymer Blend Using Taguchi and Anova

Abstract

Abstract-In this study, two-body abrasive wear studies have been carried out on ethylene vinylacetate copolymer/ highdensity polyethylene (EVA/HDPE) polymer blends with and without maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene (MA-g-PE). Taguchi L 8 design of experiment is used to measure specific abrasive wear rate under different loads and sliding distances against constant abrasive grade paper in a two body abrasive tester. It was observed that addition of MA-g-PE in polymer blend decreased the immiscibility of EVA and HDPE phases, which improved the wear resistance of compatibilized polymer blend. The addition of 2 phr MA-g-PE in EVA/HDPE polymer blend offered minimum wear volume loss and specific wear rate. Taguchi evaluated optimum combination of phr addition of MAg-PE with load and sliding distance for minimum abrasive wear. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) exhibited that the sliding distance had great influence on specific wear rate in comparison to modified polymer blend and load. Worn surfaces observed by using SEM explain the same behavior and mechanisms.