Investigation on tribo-mechanical behaviour of areca fibre reinforced alumina filled epoxy composites

Abstract The research work investigates the Mechanical and dry sliding wear behavior of (Al 2 O 3 ) alumina filled Areca fiber added Epoxy composites. The specimens with varying percentages of Alumina filler (0, 4%, 8%) by weight were prepared by using the compression molding technique. The machine driven properties such as D-Shore hardness, impact strength, and tensile properties were studied as per the ASTM standards. The Tribological behavior of composite were studied as per the ASTM Standard by varying the load 10N to 30N. In all the tests 8%Al 2 O 3 -A-E composite shows highest hardness of 81 shore D, impact strength 180 J m −2 , Tensile strength 23 MPa. For improvement of hardness and strength the main contributing factors were uniform dispersion of Al 2 O 3 particles and better load transfer between Al 2 O 3 particles and Epoxy matrix. The wear studies show that wear loss and specific wear rate raises as the load raises but load bearing capacity of (8 wt%) Al 2 O 3 due to its mesh size, and shape acts as antiwear properties and hence shows lower wear loss(0.3mm 3 at10N) and specific wear rate values (0.6 × 10 −4 mm 3 Nm −1 at 10N) as related to neat Areca fiber reinforced Epoxy composites. The scanning electron microscope examination on the wear mechanisms of Al 2 O 3 loaded A-E specimen were investigated