Solid particle erosion studies on fibre composite with egg shell as filler materials

Abstract

The development on composite materials has a tremendous role in the place of metals and alloys for different engineering applications. On the other hand, the material selected for specific applications are prone to fail in bulk with surface defect and shear based on working conditions. Hence, the challenges convince the researchers to modifying the materials with different reinforcement. In this paper, glass fibre composite material was developed with and without fillers to investigate on solid particle erosion test rig. From the experiments, the surface wear and parameter influencing air jet erosion are studied in detail. The parameters involve are jet pressure, volume of erodent and exposed time at constant angle of impingement. Based on mass change erosive wear rate are empirically calculated. The surface topography of the sample are observed with electron microscopic analysis for superficial studies. Influence of process parameter is evaluated using 2k factorial design. It is confirmed that erodent behaviour and composite with filler material are dominating the erosive wear rate. The sample with polyester resin has an affinity to hold the abrasive particle as inclusion during striking of solid particle. Therefore the proposed model with natural filler in fibre reinforced surface has resistance toward erosion.