Abstract

Evaluation of mechanical and tribological properties of E-glass fiber reinforced vinylester composites filled with SiC, Al2O3 and fly ash particulates

Author(s): S.R.Chauhan, Anoop Kumar, I.Singh

The behavior of bi-directional woven E- glass fiber reinforced vinylester composites filledwith three different ceramic fillers aluminumoxide (Al2O3), silicon carbide (SiC) and fly ash had been investigated for mechanical and tribological characterization. The effects of these three fillers onmechanical and tribological properties of the composites investigated were compared with composite without filler. The analysis revealed that the tensile strength of composites decreased significantly by inclusion of these fillers. The flexural properties, interlaminar shear strength, compressive strength, density and hardness were also affected by the type of content of filler material. It has been observed that presence of the SiC improve the hardness of the glass vinylester composites where as other two fillers showed marginal effect. Investigation revealed that the reduction in tensile strength was lower in case of fly ash among fillers. The toughness was also improved for SiC and Fly ash with 10% addition. Tensile modulus was improved for SiC and Fly ash based glass-vinylester composite with10% and 20% addition by weight. Filler addition of SiC and fly ash make these composites potential materials in tribological applications.