A Taguchi approach for investigation of solid particle erosion response of needle-punched nonwoven reinforced polymer composites: Part II

Abstract

In the present work, the effect of fabric mat loading at different impingement angle and impact velocity were reported through solid particle erosion test rig on viscose fiber based needle-punched nonwoven fabric mat reinforced polymer composites. Three types of viscose fiber based fabric mats (VS200, VS400 and VS600 g/m2) were used as reinforcing material. The solid particle erosion wear behavior of viscose fiber based needle-punched nonwoven reinforced composites were evaluated using irregular shape silica sand particles of the size of 250, 350 and 450 µm with a varying stand-off distance (65, 75 and 85 mm), impingement angle (30°, 45°, 60°, 75° and 90°) and impact velocity (45, 54 and 65 m/s). Taguchi analysis was also carried out on the basis of design of experiments approach to establish the inter-dependence of operating parameters on erosion rate of the composites. Analysis of variance and signal-to-noise ratio have been performed on the measured data. The eroded surfaces of these composite samples were examined by scanning electron microscopy to examine the wear modes of the composites. However, Part I discussed the physical, mechanical and thermo-mechanical characterization of the same series of composites and concluded that all the mechanical properties were improving with the increase in fabric mat weight percentages. Furthermore in thermo-mechanical analysis, in the temperature range of 50–60℃ the damping factor (tan δ) values was found to increase and the peak values of tan δ was observed in the temperature range of 70–90℃ for all the composites.